• Robert scores points in first BTCC outing

Robert Huff began his assault on the 2004 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship with a superb 6th place finish on his series debut at Thruxton today. The 24 year-old from Cambridge, driving a SEAT Sport Toledo Cupra qualified in 11th place for the first of three races at the Hampshire track and made up five places at the finish to open his points scoring account.

"I had a good start, a little bit of wheelspin and I took it easy for the first couple of corners and as I settled into the race I was able to pick them off one-by-one," said Robert. "I had a good race with Watson-Smith and then had a cracking battle with Bentwood all the way through for about 8 or 9 laps and I just managed to hold him off until we got to the chequered flag. I had a huge moment into the chicane on the last lap, but otherwise absolutely brilliant and it's great to get the first touring car race under the belt. P6 - I can't complain at that and in a car that we've only had for 3 weeks! The team's done a fantastic job, Seat has given us a great car and it's looking very good for the rest of the season."

Robert's optimism was to be short-lived however as he lined-up on the third row for the day's second race. A great start saw him up into second place ahead of team-mate Jason Plato when he clipped a kerb on the inside of Goodwood corner, dropping him down to 7th. At the restart following the safety car, which was deployed to retrieve some stricken cars, Robert was hit from behind and punted into another car. As he entered the chicane the next time round, he found himself without brakes, pitching him off onto the grass and a lap later retired. "I had a bit of an off at Goodwood on the second lap, I just hit the kerb which threw me off the track and at the restart I went round the inside of three of them and was up to third or fourth then I got hit from behind into one of the Petronas cars and coming up the hill into the chicane I found I had no brakes at all. I hit the brakes, the rears locked up and round and round we went and that was the end of that."

The day's final race was also to prove eventful, as he started from the back of the grid after his non-finish in race two. "Breezy just turned in on me, I went up the inside of him at the first right going into the complex and I went round the outside of him and stuck it up the left, he saw me but still turned in and hit me which bent the track rod and after 8 or 9 laps, eventually it broke. Then when the trackrod snapped, as I turned left into the chicane the car just went straight over the kerbs and took the front splitter clean off.

All in all though I'm reasonably happy with the overall result. I think I've shown I'm quick in the car and the car is great, all credit to SEAT and RML on a job well done and of course Jason's win in the second race was a fantastic result for the whole team."

Results from Race 1 – 16 laps

1.	James Thompson	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	21:11.618
2.	Matt Neal	Honda Civic Type-R	21:12.243
3.	Yvan Muller	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	21:19.567
4.	Anthony Reid	MG ZS	21:20.927
5.	Dan Eaves	Honda Civic Type-R	21:30.126
6.	ROBERT HUFF	SEAT Toledo Cupra	21:32.940

Results from Race 2 – 19 laps

1.	Jason Plato	SEAT Toledo Cupra	28:28.389
2.	Yvan Muller	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	28:28.840
3.	Michael Bentwood	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	28:30.471
4.	Dan Eaves	Honda Civic Type-R	28:30.801
5.	Robert Collard	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	28:31.384
6.	Anthony Reid	MG ZS	28:33.931

Results from Race 3 – 16 laps

1.	Yvan Muller	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	21:30.338
2.	Anthony Reid	MG ZS	21:32.317
3.	James Thompson	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	21:35.990
4.	Jason Plato	SEAT Toledo Cupra	21:36.317
5.	Luke Hines	Vauxhall Astra Coupe	21:38.322
6.	Colin Turkington	MG ZS	21:39.691

Championship points after 3 rounds

1.	Yvan Muller	35
2.	James Thompson	28
3.	Jason Plato	28
4.	Anthony Reid	25
5.	Dan Eaves	15
6.	Matt Neal	14
7.	Michael Bentwood	14
8.	Luke Hines	10
9.	Robert Collard	9
10.	Colin Turkington	7
11.	James Kaye	6
12.	ROBERT HUFF	5