Motorsports

Huff Stakes An Early Claim On The Title

BY Keegan Gan

Rob Huff walked out of Monza with two more victories and a gap of 36 and 41 points respectively ahead of his team mates Yvan Muller and Alain Menu.

By virtue of the point gap that sets him apart from his team mates, Huff can now stake an early claim on the world title. The opportunity to do is due to Huff's achievement of a double win in the same weekend, something that had only been done twice before since WTCC was launched. The two precedents dated back to 2005 (Jörg Müller at Magny-Cours) and 2007 (James Thompson at Valencia), and Huff is the third person to do it.

 

Huff also took the most out of the crushing supremacy the Chevrolet Cruze cars showed on the fast track of Monza, and managed not to crack under the relentless pressure that Muller and Menu put on him. Over the 18 laps of the two races, Huff did not commit the slightest mistake, never opened the smallest gap and always kept the most favourable line.

Chevrolet might have outpaced the rest of the field, but the races in Monza were far from boring. Competition between the SEAT and BMW drivers was exciting. Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Kristian Poulsen were the stars among the pursuers, while bad luck disappointed Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Coronel.

As for Robert Dahlgren, on the fastest track in the WTCC calendar, he could do nothing to close the gap between his normally-aspirated Volvo and the turbo cars. His actual season will kick off when the team make the switch to the new engine. In the meanwhile, it is not hazardous to predict that the following races may contribute to further heat up the atmosphere at the Chevrolet team.

The championship will resume at Budapest, Hungary, on June 5th for rounds 7 and 8.