Rob Huff wanted to give his home fans something special at Brands Hatch, and despite carrying 45kgs of weight handicap in his Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC race car – the most he has ever had to race with – the 27-year old driver from Cambridgeshire finished the day with a magnificent 3rd place podium finish in Race 2, having finished a strong 6th in the earlier race.

With so many family and friends in the crowd, Rob "wanted to deliver" at his home round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. It wasn't going to be easy, however, because not only was he carrying a lot of extra weight, qualifying for the British round of the WTCC was to prove the closest of the entire season so far. Less than one second separated the top 18 cars, as the world's best touring car drivers aimed for the all-important pole position around the 2.3 mile Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

With a few hundredths of a second separating the cars, drivers needed a perfect lap to get near the front of the grid, and any small time delays made a big difference to grid positions for the first of two races. Minor clutch and engine problems were just the distraction Rob didn't need, and whilst he set a good time that was just 0.389 seconds slower than his team-mate Alain Menu, who put his Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC on pole, it saw Rob qualify 9th out of 25 cars.

"The car was quick enough to be right there but I guessed I missed the boat," said Rob. "I had clutch problems at the beginning of the session and then some oversteer later on. The handling is perfect so to start only ninth is a bit frustrating."

The prospect of close and exciting racing and a sunny day in the south east corner of England attracted a large crowd to Brands Hatch in Kent on race day. Paddock Hill Bend once again provided a dramatic opening corner, as a rolling start opened the action in Race 1. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT), Augusto Farfus (BMW) and Jörg Muller (BMW) were all squeezed towards the same piece of track, which saw Muller spin and hit by Nicola Larini (Chevrolet), which brought out the Safety Car for two laps – extending the 14 lap race to 16. The second race began with a standing start, but the Safety Car was deployed when Alex Zanardi (BMW) went off at Paddock Hill Bend and as the Safety Car came into the pits Alain Menu (Chevrolet) collided with Farfus. Farfus slammed backwards into the pit wall, bringing out the Safety Car again, while Menu was black flagged for violating Safety Car procedure.

Rob's good performance in qualifying made sure he started well clear of all these incidents and was able to race on the same pace as the winners of both races and score two very strong results – continuing his fine run of form which has seen him score a 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the last five race meetings.

"I was really pleased to finish sixth and third in the two races at Brands Hatch and bag ten World Championship points," said Rob. "We only race in Britain once a year, so with so many family, friends and fans in the crowd I really wanted to deliver on my home race. It was a difficult weekend, because I was carrying forty-five kilos of weight handicap, which is more than I have ever carried before. The car handles very differently with so much ballast and you have to set it up in a different way, so I think we achieved the best results we could. I made a good start in Race One and moved up a few places, and that enabled me to avoid the accident at the first corner which usually happens at Paddock Hill Bend. I was able to keep up with the cars ahead, but it was very difficult to overtake, so I was pleased to come home sixth.

"I made another good start in Race Two and immediately managed to tuck in behind Andy Priaulx and Felix Porteiro. Once again I had the speed to stay with the guys ahead, but not enough to try and make a move. I was a little bit worried when Colin Turkington overtook Jordi Gené behind me, because Colin's BMW was a lot lighter than my Chevrolet and I knew that he would be able to gain ground on me in the final three laps. Even though Colin couldn't score WTCC points, I didn't want to lose a podium position at Brands Hatch. In the end it wasn't a problem, and I was very pleased to finish third.

"I might be ninth in the Championship, but I'm only three points behind Nicola Larini – and four races ago he was fourth overall in the Drivers' standings, so it's all very close. We'll go to Monza next with the maximum sixty kilos of ballast; the fast Italian track is one of the worst places to carry a lot of extra weight, but we'll go there aiming to qualifying as high as we can and try to have another two very strong races."

The next round of the WTCC takes place at Monza in Italy on October 6/7.

Brands Hatch Race 1 Results

1.	A. Menu	Chevrolet Lacetti	16 laps in 26m48s377
2.	J. Thompson	Alfa Romeo	+0s659
3.	C. Turkington	BMW 320si	+0s955
4.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	+2s161
5.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	+2s999
6.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+3s217

Brands Hatch Race 2 Results

1.	A. Priaulx	BMW 320si	16 laps in 28m05s811
2.	F. Porteiro	BMW 320si	+0s727
3.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+1s160
4.	C. Turkington	BMW 320si	+1s382
5.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	+5s398

Drivers Points Standings After Race 18 Of 22
1. A Priaulx (BMW), 81pts; 2. A Farfus (BMW), 69; 3. Y Muller (SEAT), 67; 4. J Müller (BMW), 66; 5. J Thompson (Alfa Romeo), 57; 6. A Menu (Chevrolet), 55 ;...;9. R Huff (Chevrolet), 44;...

Manufacturers Standings After Race 18 Of 22
1. BMW, 227pts; 2. SEAT, 195; 3. Chevrolet, 172; 4. Alfa Romeo, 96.