TCR World and life

25 Racing for the 2018 and 2019 seasons in the new WTCR. Huff’s strongest point in his two WTCR years was always the street races, claiming pole position at Vila Real in 2018, and taking two pole positions at Macau in ‘18 and ‘19, setting a new TCR lap record of 2:27.963 in an incredibly close qualifying session last year, the highlight of a tough season for Huff. “I was a bit unlucky last year to miss out in the first qualifying due to a broken damper, but we put that right in the second qualifying and then flew to pole position, ” he said. Unfortunately for Huff, he was unable to convert that ninth pole into his tenth win, as Andy Priaulx’s Lynk & Co 03 TCR got the jump on him at the start and was able to hold him off for the victory. “The Volkswagen Group were the first people to build TCR cars, but the later cars, the Honda, the Hyundai, the Lynk & Co, the Alfa Romeo, all have very good, very strong clutches which allow you to get away well at the starts, ” he said. “ We had put that right for the new Volkswagen, but unfortunately no one will ever see it. My team-mate Johan Kristoffersson and I spent three days last year testing about ten or twelve different clutches for the new car - and all of them are an improvement on the current clutch in the Golf. The new CUPRA León Competición will have the clutch that Johan and I chose for the Golf - which is a bit of a shame, as I’m now going to be up against that car!” Huff’s referring to the news that he will take on a new challenge this year, after 15 years racing on the world stage, he’ll now be racing in the TCR Scandinavia championship, the first international driver to take on the highly competitive national series since 2012. “With the TCR Scandinavia, we know it’s a very competitive championship, and PWR Racing have some very good drivers who I’m very familiar with. They also have a brand new toy to play with, and I know quite a lot of the technology that’s gone into that new toy, while I’ll be in the Golf that I know very well as well, so I think we can have a very positive year. I’m very excited about the new challenge, I like learning new tracks, and the last time I went to Sweden in the WTCC in 2007 I won at Anderstorp in the wet - so I’ve only been once, but it was very good for me.” Huff says the opportunity came up after a phone call from his Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Johan Kristoffersson during the off-season break.