Rob Huff won the first of two FIA World Touring Car Championship races at Valencia on Sunday – and immediately followed that up by coming from 8th on the grid to finish 2nd in the next race. Having scored 18 points in one race weekend, six more than Championship leader Gabriele Tarquini could achieve at the Spanish track, Rob has jumped to 7th place in the WTCC Drivers' standings.

After races in Brazil and Mexico, the 120,000 spectator capacity MotoGP circuit in Cheste, near Valencia, hosted the opening European round of the WTCC. With no points scored in the first four races, Rob knew that he needed a good result to kick start his title challenge – and he set about this task by setting the first and second best lap times in Saturday morning's free practice sessions.

Having found an extremely good set-up on his Chevrolet Lacetti, Rob was hoping it would remain dry for qualifying, but the approaching dark clouds had other ideas. A thunderstorm half an hour before the start of qualifying, along with steady rain throughout, made conditions very difficult. Rob did a fantastic job to qualify in 4th position, just 0.808 seconds behind pole-sitter Yvan Muller (SEAT Leon TDI) on the 2.5 mile circuit. When Rob's Chevrolet team-mate Alain Menu's slightly quicker times were disallowed when his Lacetti failed a ride height test, the 28-year old driver from Cambridgeshire moved up into 3rd position.

"I am pleased to be at the sharp end of the grid, but obviously a little disappointed at the same time," said Rob. "I set a first and second time in this morning's sessions, so I had hoped it would have stayed dry in the qualifying session since I felt I was very close to a pole position time. We didn't change too much on the car other than adjusting the front roll bar as we have only done so little running in the rain the last seasons it is always a bit of a gamble when you're supposed to get everything correct in just one half hour."

On Sunday, Rob started from the second row of the grid and drove brilliantly to move into the lead after only a few laps. Once ahead he maintained his lead to score this third WTCC race win of his career.

The top eight finishers from Race 1 start Race 2 in reverse order, and Rob had to battle his way up from the fourth row of the grid. He did superbly well to finish in 2nd place, just behind Menu.

"I had a good start in Race 1 and immediately got ahead of the SEATs halfway down the straight," explained Rob. "But then the diesels just towed past me again before the first corner, so I had to be content with fourth for a while. I was already pleased that I had made it through the first corner because in the previous three seasons my race had always ended right there. Yvan Muller then ran wide in one corner which allowed me to get past him, then Jordi Gené ran wide as well and both Gabriele Tarquini and I slipped through. I then managed to pass Gabriele on lap five and stayed in control until the end.

"I started the second race from eighth place and I wanted to finish as high as possible to score as many points as I could and capitalise on my race one win. I made some good overtaking moves, came home in second and bagged a total of 18 points in one day, which I was chuffed to bits with. The Chevrolets had been on the pace all weekend, although it of course helped us to run light here, as we weren't carrying any success ballast. These victories are very much the result of the hard work the team has put in since we're back from Mexico."

The next round of the WTCC takes place on the famous street circuit at Pau in south-west France on May 31-June 1.

Valencia Race 1 Results

1.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	13 laps in 22m52s987
2.	G. Tarquini	SEAT Leon TDI	+ 5s376
3.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	+ 10s095
4.	Y. Muller	SEAT Leon TDI	+ 10s491
5.	J. Müller	BMW 320si	+ 10s982
6.	N. Larini	Chevrolet Lacetti	+ 11s679

Valencia Race 2 Results

1.	A. Menu	Chevrolet Lacetti	13 laps in 22m47s994
2.	R. Huff	Chevrolet Lacetti	+ 2s441
3.	A. Priaulx	BMW 320si	+ 3s952
4.	J. Müller	BMW 320si	+ 5s403
5.	G. Tarquini	SEAT Leon TDI	+ 16s332
6.	J. Gené	SEAT Leon TDI	+ 19s171

Drivers' Points Standings After Race 6 Of 24
1. G. Tarquini (SEAT), 36 points; 2. R. Rydell (SEAT), 28; 3. Y. Muller (SEAT), 28; 4. J. Gené (SEAT), 24; 5. A. Priaulx (BMW), 22; 6. J. Muller (BMW), 20, 7. R. Huff (Chevrolet).18.

Manufacturers' Points Standings After Race 6 Of 24
1. SEAT, 90 points; 2. Chevrolet, 60; 3. BMW, 59; 4. Honda, 6.