• Rob emulates his hero in end of season thriller

Rob Huff bounced and battled his way through a dramatic final round of the Renaultsport Cup at Donington Park to clinch a tremendous third place overall in his debut season.

And he earned an accolade, which even at the age of 22 the Cambridge racer is likely to pin to his bedroom wall.

"I cut through on the first lap from twelfth to fourth," he said, "and I was compared at the circuit to Ayrton Senna, because that was what he did in his last race there.

"Praise like that is a bit overwhelming, especially because Senna was my idol. It really was the icing on a great season.

"I was a bit disappointed to drop from second in the championship to third in the final meeting due to various circumstances. But as a scholarship winner I finished higher than the defending champion, as well as three other drivers with more than three years experience in the competition.

"If you'd said to me at the start of the 13 rounds that I would be up there third overall at the end I would have said, ' don't be stupid, give me a chance.'

"But it's gone really well, and there is a lot of interest from a couple of other Clio teams as well as GT, plus one or two other things which could work out for next season. It was a real step forward for me."

Not for the first time though he had to do it the hard way after qualifying was red-flagged due to a crash before he had a chance to put in his fastest lap.

"I would have been around fourth, but I ended up 12th on the grid," he said, "but then the conditions turned in my favour. We were all on slick tyres and it started to rain heavily.

"When we got into the race I was able to call on my experience in karting and endurance racing where you can't go off and change tyres. I can drive well and very fast on slicks on a wet surface."

As three of his startled rivals found out when he hurtled past them going into the first bend. Another was shunted out of the way, after sliding sideways into to him, and he picked off four more, one by one, by the end of a startling first lap.

"Actually I think Senna only went up to fifth," he said, "so it wasn't too bad. But then I hit trouble because my brakes weren't working very well, or hardly at all. And I was knocked off the track four times, but I managed to finish seventh, and third overall behind Andrew Kirkaldy and Paul Rivett.

"I'll be instructing throughout the winter now and trying to get things in place for next season and if anybody wants to join us as backers, or find out about instruction drives please get in touch."