• Rob in strong position after another podium finish

With just one round remaining of the RenaultSport Cup Rob Huff is one of only two drivers in with a chance of winning the prestigious title.

A seventh podium finish in round 13 at Brands Hatch lifted him to second place overall on his series debut, competing with racers in their third or fourth seasons.

The 22-year-old Cambridge driver got his chance in the championship by beating 500 other hopefuls to win the Michelin Renault Scholarship, and was probably expected by some of the top teams merely to be making up the numbers.

But his top three place on the Indy course at Brands makes him the only danger to leader Paul Rivett in the series climax at Donington Park next month. "It would probably need a bit of misfortune for Rivett, and a win for me, if I was to take the title," he admitted, "He virtually has to fail to score, and he'll probably play it safe.

"But if you'd told me at the start of the championship I'd be going into round 14 in second place, with any chance of winning the title I'd have been well chuffed.

"It's been great experience, and another important effect is that we already have a couple of interesting offers for next season.

"If I hadn't been taken out at Thruxton by an out-of-control car I might have been favourite for the championship going into the last meeting."

He was almost smashed off the circuit again, after slicing through from seventh on the grid to challenge leader Jason Templeman midway through the latest round.

"Eoin Murray gave me an almighty shove in the back," he said, "I had a sideways moment and my back wheels went into the gravel trap. But I kept going then got into a really tough duel with Andrew Kirkcaldy.

"I gave as good as I got, and it was probably the hardest race I've ever been in. It was 25 laps, and at the chequered flag the first six cars were covered by four tenths of a second.

"I actually finished fourth on the track, but the stewards had seen Murray hit me. There was a bit of an MSA inquiry and he was penalised three seconds which put me up to third."