Having made two excellent starts in both Rounds 9 and 10 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at Brno, Rob Huff could do nothing about the damaged steering and broken gearshift that was to ruin his two races in the Czech Republic last weekend.

The 27-year old driver from Cambridgeshire was looking forward to another good race weekend, having won at the stunning 3.36 mile Masaryk Circuit last year. Rob knew the rearwheel drive BMWs would be very strong around the fast and undulating Czech track, but he knew his Chevrolet Lacetti WTC was one of the strongest front-wheel drive cars in the field and was up for the challenge.

After attending a press conference in Brno the week before, Rob returned to the Czech region of Moravia for the race weekend, which began with two free practice sessions and qualifying on Saturday (June 16th). Having been 20th in both practice runs, Rob suffered from understeer in qualifying and would line up in 19th position on the grid, over two seconds slower than the polesitter, Felix Porteiro (BMW).

"It's not been a good day for me, but last year I qualified twenty-fourth and I managed to win Race 2, so qualifying nineteenth this year certainly means I won't given up," said Rob. "I had a lot of understeer when approaching the apex of most corners and I had to struggle with that."

With the BMWs almost a second quicker in qualifying than anything else, Rob knew that if the team could find a cure for the understeer problem, he'd be in with a good chance of scoring points on race day. And it looked very encouraging, as Rob set the 5th fastest time in early morning warm-up, less than half a second away from the fastest BMW.

The rolling start for the first of two WTCC races (on Sunday 17th June) once again caused drama, as 24 cars funnelled into the opening right hand corner at high speed. Rob made a fantastic start and aimed for the inside; and it was the correct move, as Pierre-Yves Corthals (SEAT) had been hit sideways on the outside of the corner, colliding with Andy Priaulx (BMW) who'd spun into the gravel, taking Jordi Gené (SEAT) with him. Rob was up to 10th place when he too was hit – an unlucky victim of another clash between three different drivers, Massimiliano Pedalà (SEAT), Tom Coronel (SEAT) and James Thompson (Alfa Romeo). As Thompson swayed from side to side in the middle of the track, his car hit Rob's front left wheel, bending the track rod and damaging the steering. With his Chevrolet unable to turn right properly, Rob dropped back down the order and nursed the car home to 20th place.

Starting from row 10 of the grid for the next race, Rob made a brilliant standing start and made up four places in the early part of the opening lap, before he was forced into the pits and into retirement when the gear shift mechanism broke, leaving him stuck in second gear.

"It has been a frustrating weekend," admitted Rob. "In both races I had very good starts but not for long. In Race 1 I gained some ten positions at the start, but then a couple of competitors tangled up and I was hit in the front left wheel. The impact bent the track rod and from then on the steering was very bad; I couldn't turn to the right, and my race was ruined. Same in Race 2, but there it was the car letting me down, for the first time in three years. The gear linkage broke, probably as a result of the accident in Race 1, and I was left with no gears.

"Having won in Brno last year, I'm obviously disappointed not to have been able to repeat that this year, but there was not a lot I could do really. It's not been a great weekend, but I could do nothing about what happened to me in either race. I'm happy that I made a good start in both races and that the Lacetti is improving all the time, so I must look forward to the next race at Porto on July 8th and go there looking for a good result. It's a new circuit for everyone, so no driver will have an advantage over another, and we know that our car is good on a street circuit, so I'm quietly optimistic."

Brno Race 1 Results

1.	F. Porteiro	(BMW 320si)	11 laps in 26m51s609
2.	J. Müller	(BMW 320si)	+0 s259
3.	A. Zanardi	(BMW 320si)	+ 3s285
4.	A. Farfus	(BMW 320si)	+ 4s284
5.	N. Larini	(Chevrolet Lacetti)	+ 14s147
20.	R. Huff	(Chevrolet Lacetti)	+ 51s405

Brno Race 2 Results

1.	J. Müller	(BMW 320si)	10 laps in 22m42s008
2.	A. Farfus	(BMW 320si)	+ 0s812
3.	F. Porteiro	(BMW 320si)	+ 4s820
4.	G. Tarquini (SEAT Leon)	+ 7s362
5.	J. Thompson	(Alfa Romeo 156)	+ 9s619
	R Huff	(Chevrolet Lacetti)	DNF

Drivers Points Standings After Race 10 Of 22
1. A Farfus (BMW), 53pts; 2. J Müller (BMW), 49; 3. A Priaulx (BMW) 44; 4. N Larini (Chevrolet) 32; 5. Y Muller (SEAT) 31;… 8. A Menu (Chevrolet) 22; … 12. R Huff (Chevrolet) 14, etc

Manufacturers Standings After Race 10 Of 22
1. BMW, 142 pts; 2. SEAT, 104; 3. Chevrolet, 85; 4. Alfa Romeo, 51.