HUFF WINS ON HONDA CIVIC DEBUT IN WTCC

Rob Huff won on his debut for Honda at Paul Ricard in the World Touring Car Championship last weekend.

The Briton made a great start to the season-opener to jump polesitter Hugo Valente and take a lead he held throughout the race, with Mehdi Bennani his closest challenger. “The feeling of crossing the line in race one and climbing to the top step on my Castrol Honda Racing debut was unbelievable,” said the 2012 champion. “The car ran flawlessly and I’m truly grateful to have been given the tools to win.”

Huff ’s second race got off to a bad start as he was punted off at the first corner but he recovered to finish an eventual sixth.

“I made another belting start to race two to rise to just behind the leading Citroens on the run to the first corner, but a rear-end collision wrecked my race,” he said. “I came back with a vengeance from 16th to sixth and, to be fair, that made for one hell of a race, although my speed makes me think that another podium was on the cards.”

Reigning champion Jose Maria Lopez won race two, after a subdued sixth in the opener. The Citroen driver resisted pressure from Huff ’s team-mate Tiago Monteiro in the closing stages to win by just 0.284s.