In front of a 52,000 strong crowd at Monza, Rob Huff made what he considers to be the best overtaking manoeuvre of his career in Race 1 and then led Race 2, as the 27-year old driver from Cambridgeshire continues his impressive run of form in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. In beautifully warm Italian autumn sunshine, Rob eventually scored points in both hotly contested races by finishing 8th and 4th.

The famous Monza circuit in Italy was the venue for the penultimate rounds of the series – and the last two races of the season in Europe, before the finale in China in six weeks time. The very long and fast straights and the heavy braking into the chicanes makes Monza a real challenge for the cars, and Rob's Chevrolet Lacetti WTCC race car was prepared for two ultracompetitive races.

Slipstreaming is important at Monza, and if done properly you can lap the 3.58 mile circuit around one second quicker than you can alone. Having given his team-mates a tow and helped Nicola Larini and Alain Menu qualify in 4th and 5th positions, the plan was for them to run ahead of Rob and assist him down the long straights. However, confusion intervened and as Rob began is last flying lap his team-mates weren't able to help. Rob therefore qualified his Chevrolet 16th on the grid, and received an apology for the mistake!

"All three of us did one run at the head of the train, one run in the middle, and one run at the back to qualify," explained Rob. "Unfortunately when it was my turn to benefit from these tactics, Alain got a bit close to Nic so he got out of the train to leave me some room to close up to Nic. But then he ran wide at the chicane so I lost my tow and thus my only chance at a proper time."

Starting in the middle of a 26 car grid is hazardous, especially when the first corner on the circuit is the infamous Prima Variante. Indeed, there was a first corner accident involving several cars at the tight chicane, but Rob skilfully avoided most of the carnage and quickly got into a good rhythm. A fantastic run saw him finish 8th – and in doing so started Race 2 from pole, as the top eight from Race 1 start Race 2 in reverse order.

The track temperature had increased from 24 to 28°C by the time Race 2 began with a rolling start, and Rob made a good get-away to lead the field. He was embroiled in a fantastic race for the lead, but with maximum ballast on board his car he couldn't keep the challenge of lighter cars off for all of the nine laps, yet he still raced brilliantly to finish 4th.

"In the first race, I had a really good start and managed to overtake three cars before the chicane," said Rob. "At the chicane I got pushed sideways and lost a few places, so then I just went for it and managed to pick them off one by one. When I saw the pit board indicating P10 two laps from the end, I thought 'how am I going to get past two cars in two laps?' But then I noticed the two guys in front of me starting to fight for that eighth position as well, so coming into the Parabolica I had the feeling they were too busy fighting their own fight and not paying too much attention to me. I just tucked in behind them and got both of them in the chicane. Two for the price of one, as they say; in what was probably the best overtaking manoeuvre of my career.

"In race two I had a belting start and managed to keep the lead for a few laps. But running at the front with the maximum ballast on board is not easy, especially not on this track, so I couldn't hold Jordi Gené off any longer. For some reason we lacked the pace we had in the first race, maybe due to the higher temperature in the afternoon. In any case, the result is again a clear testament to the great work RML and Chevrolet have been doing all year long."

The next round of the WTCC takes place at Macau in China on November 17/18.

Monza Race 1 Results

1.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	9 laps in 18m19s438
2.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	+0s201
3.	J. Thompson	Alfa Romeo 156	+0s867
4.	N. Larini	Chevrolet Lacetti	+1s196
5.	A. Menu	Chevrolet Lacetti	+2s416
6.	G. Tarquini	SEAT Leon TDI	+3s008
7.	A. Farfus	BMW 320si	+4s052
8.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+4s690

Monza Race 2 Results

1.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	9 laps in 18m21s957
2.	N. Larini	Chevrolet Lacetti	+1s011
3.	J. Thompson	Alfa Romeo 156	+1s289
4.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+2s513
5.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	+7s906
6.	A. Zanardi	BMW 320si	+10.499

Drivers Points Standings After Race 20 Of 22
1 = A Priaulx (BMW) and Y Muller (SEAT), 81pts; 3. A Farfus (BMW), 71; 4. J Thompson (Alfa Romeo), 69; 5. J Müller (BMW), 66; 6. N Larini (Chevrolet), 61; 7. A Menu (Chevrolet), 59;… 9. R Huff (Chevrolet), 51;…

Manufacturers Standings After Race 20 Of 22
1. BMW, 237pts; 2. SEAT, 227; 3. Chevrolet, 194; 4. Alfa Romeo, 111.