Rob Huff kept his and Chevrolet's challenge in the FIA World Touring Car Championship on track with a fighting performance at the Motorsport Arena in Oschersleben, Germany (August 25-26). While Rob's team-mates, Alain Menu and Nicola Larini, were victims of first lap accidents, the entire hopes of the Chevrolet team rested on the shoulders of the 27-year old driver from Cambridgeshire – and he didn't let them down, coming from 14th on the grid to finish 11th in Race 1 and a points-scoring 6th in Race 2.

Having won at the last race meeting in Sweden, Rob arrived in Germany with 40kg of success ballast on his Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC – which was always going to be a big handicap around the twisty 2.4 mile circuit. Trying to find the right technical set-up and a good pace with the extra weight was to prove the biggest challenge Rob has faced in the WTCC – and he was delighted to come away from a tough weekend, where the odds were stacked in the opposition's favour, with three WTCC points after a typical gritty and determined performance.

The two free practice sessions that start a WTCC race weekend showed that only a few thousandths of a second would separate the top drivers around this German track – which is situated in the Bode region some 20 miles from the city of Magdeburg, between Hannover and Berlin. What followed was the most exciting and closely-fought qualifying session of the season, where the top 20 drivers were separated by less than one second. In the 26 car field, Rob's best time of 1min 37.000secs put him 14th on the grid, even though he was just 0.709 seconds behind the pole-sitter, Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Leon).

"My second run was quite good, but we then decided to change the roll bar for the third run, but apparently we just went a bit too far in that," said Rob. "Still, it will be a very competitive race tomorrow, with lots of people in places on the grid where they not normally start from. From my fourteenth spot I should still have a reasonable chance at getting into the top eight for the reverse grid for race two, depending on what will happen in front of me in race one."

Race day on Sunday was hot, sunny and humid. With 39,000 spectators in the grandstands, Rob made a good start from the seventh row, but had to slow when four cars collided exiting the first corner. Fortunately, he was in front of another four car accident which took place in the run down to the first corner – but unfortunately for the Chevrolet team, one of its cars was involved in both accidents. So all hopes rested on Rob – and he drove superbly to finish 11th.

The temperature had dropped and a strong wind greeted crews at the start of Race 2. Rob had a good start from the sixth row of the grid. He overtook Tarquini early in the race and followed Race 1 winner Yvan Muller (SEAT Leon TDI) closely, but was unable to make a move on the new diesel-engined car, despite putting Muller under incredible pressure.

"In the first race I had to come to an almost complete stop for that first corner incident," said Rob. "I could barely see where I was going because of all the smoke so in proper Days of Thunder style I just went for the middle which turned out to be the right thing to do. I then lost a few places when I locked up in the chicane. Other than that there was some oversteer at the beginning of the race and then understeer near the end. In the second race the car was much smoother and I could play with the oversteer much more, making it more enjoyable in the slower corners. Over a lap, I'm sure I was quicker than Yvan [Muller] but it was just impossible to pass him coming out of a corner. These diesels have so much torque and power you won't believe it.

"This has been my hardest race weekend in the WTCC. We are working very hard as a team to be more consistent at every track, but we are trying to find the best set-up with just three cars, compared to SEAT, who had eleven cars on the grid in Germany, and BMW, who had eight. Obviously they can get a lot more data from a lot more cars, and this can sometimes put us at a disadvantage – and it certainly did in Germany last weekend. We are still a relatively new team, and we are learning all the time. To have qualified fourteenth, I'm really pleased to come away from Oschersleben with three points, having finished sixth in the second and final race."

"I'm really looking forward to the next WTCC race meeting at Brands Hatch," added Rob, as Rounds 17 and 18 of the series takes place in England on September 22-23. "I know the Brands Hatch circuit better than any other track in the WTCC, we know the Chevrolet is quite good there and we should be competitive. I qualified third and finish fourth there last year, so a podium finish and maybe even a race win would be nice, especially in front of my home crowd. It should be a great race weekend."

Oschersleben Race 1 Results

1.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	16 laps in 27m57s209
2.	G. Tarquini	SEAT Leon	+0s446
3.	J. Thompson	Alfa Romeo 156	+0s793
4.	J. Müller	BMW 320si	+1s256
5.	A. Priaulx	BMW 320si	+1s480
11.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+ 13s373

Oschersleben Race 2 Results

1.	A. Farfus	BMW 320si	14 laps in 22m55s632
2.	A. Priaulx	BMW 320si	+0s564
3.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	+2s504
4.	J. Thompson	Alfa Romeo 156	+2s862
5.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	+3s695
6.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+ 4s072

Drivers Points Standings After Race 16 Of 22
1. A Farfus (BMW), 69pts; 2. A Priaulx (BMW), 68; 3. J Müller (BMW) 63; 4. Y Muller (SEAT), 56; 9. R Huff (Chevrolet), 35; etc

Manufacturers Standings After Race 16 Of 22
1. BMW, 204pts; 2. SEAT, 175; 3. Chevrolet, 150; 4. Alfa Romeo, 85.