Robert Huff

At the following event at Brno in the Czech Republic, Huff started 24th due to two 10-place grid penalties, but he fought through to eighth place in the first race, which gave him pole for race 2 – giving him a lead he never relinquished en route to a first WTCC win, and the first for Chevrolet in the dry.

Robert Peter Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver.

He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport.

A Christmas Day birth in 1979 in Cambridge, Huff had a long junior career in karting.

He attended St Faith's School and The Leys School, Cambridge, from 1993 to 1996.

He won the 2000 Formula Vauxhall championship, and class B of the 2001 Ethyl MG Championship (also finishing as runner-up in this series in 2000).

His father's Chartered Surveying firm has been one of his main sponsors.

Huff entered the big time by winning the inaugural SEAT Cupra Challenge in 2003, winning a paid drive in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for the next season alongside former champion Jason Plato as a result.

He battled on track with Plato in the second race at Thruxton but later lost his front splitter and retired, doing so again in the third race of the day.

Huff started fifth at Brands Hatch and he was leading just before the safety car came out.

He led away at the restart but was demoted to second by Matt Neal on the following lap and those position stuck until the end of the race, Huff claimed his first BTCC podium.

He started round 8 at Silverstone on the reversed grid pole but second placed starter Kelvin Burt took the lead straight away and Huff soon fell victim to the Vauxhall of James Thompson.

A collision with Michael Bentwood in the second race at Mondello Park meant Huff was disqualified and he started race three from the back.

Huff eventually fell down to 7th place but he scored his second podium of the season in the third race.

He claimed his first BTCC race win in round 24 at Brands Hatch and he repeated this success a fortnight later at Snetterton.

He adjusted well, finishing 7th overall in the championship.

The SEAT BTCC team was run by Ray Mallock in 2004, and when his company took on the fledgling Chevrolet WTCC project, they retained Huff.

At the season opening Race of Italy, he finished ahead of his more experienced teammates Alain Menu and Nicola Larini in race one.

He collided with the BMW of Antonio García in his home race at Silverstone, forcing him to retire.

In what was a difficult season with the new car, Huff's best result of 2005 was a sixth place in Mexico and with it he took the first points for the Lacetti in the WTCC.

He finished the year joint 20th with Stéphane Ortelli in the drivers' championship with only the three points scored in Mexico.

That year he also did a one off in the guest car of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but collided with championship contender Tim Harvey in race one.

In 2006 he finished fourth at Brands Hatch, which was his best result of the first half of the season.

He was taken to hospital after an accident at Puebla.

There was an improvement in form once again from the Chevrolet team in 2007, Huff took a further win at the Scandinavian Raceway in Sweden, plus three more podiums, including his part in a Chevrolet 1–2–3 at Porto.

These results ultimately left him ninth overall in the series, but behind team-mates Larini and Menu.

The team took a win at every new circuit introduced for the 2007 season.

He opened 2008 with four pointless races, but came in first and second in the two races at Valencia.

He was disqualified from the second race of the FIA WTCC Race of the Czech Republic due to his car having an illegal anti-roll bar linkage.

For 2009, Chevrolet switched to the Cruze chassis.

Huff did not make the best of starts to the season, failing to progress through to Q2 at the Race of Brazil and scoring no points.

It was not until the Race of Morocco when things picked up; Huff took pole position and won the first race to take his first points of the season and the first win for the Chevrolet Cruze.

He qualified fifth at the Race of France but a good start meant he passed pole sitter Andy Priaulx and then Farfus on the second lap to take his second win of the season.

At Brands Hatch he made his 100th WTCC start, qualifying third and taking the lead after a lap one collision between Menu and pole sitter Augusto Farfus.

He led until a puncture three laps from the end.

He finished the season third in the championship, behind SEAT drivers Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini.

He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the 2020 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship champion.

However, the rest of the season was short on results, he finished 16th in the final standings.

In 2017, Huff made a return with Vauxhall at Silverstone as a step in for Tom Chilton after he got ruled out on medical grounds.

He led for a majority of race 3, but eventually dropped behind Matt Neal late in the race and finished second, scoring the team's best result of the season.