Rob Huff and Andrew Watson both enjoyed spells up at the sharp end of proceedings in the penultimate outing of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign at Silverstone last weekend (21-22 September).
The pair comfortably advanced through the opening part of qualifying in the country’s premier motor racing series – Huff going second-quickest in group one and Watson fourth-fastest in group two – before ultimately securing eighth and ninth spots on the grid in the high-calibre, 20-strong field, with the Northern Irishman narrowly ahead.
On a very wet track surface the next day, Watson kept his composure to take the chequered flag ninth in the curtain-raising contest, while Huff conversely endured a rollercoaster ride, finding himself forced into the gravel at Becketts on the opening tour. After fighting back from 18th to the fringes of the top ten, the former FIA World Touring Car Champion then picked up a late puncture – a legacy of the earlier incident – dropping him to the tail-end of the order once again.
Huff moved forward to grab 11th in race two, with Watson crossing the finish line directly ahead in the sister Corolla – British-built and prepared and run by Northwich, Cheshire-based Speedworks Motorsport – but the 29-year-old was demoted to 15th by a five-second penalty for an out-of-position start.
The final race of the day would be the wettest of all, with torrential rain leaving puddles of standing water around the circuit, but that did not deter Huff, as the Cambridgeshire ace went on a crowd-pleasing charge in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and an appreciative trackside audience. He had just displaced championship leader Jake Hill from fourth on lap three when the red flags flew due to cars aquaplaning off in the deteriorating conditions.
Once the rain had eased sufficiently for the action to resume, Huff held station but then dropped down to eighth in the closing stages after being roughed up by rivals at Woodcote and Copse. A penalty for one of his aggressors subsequently elevated him to seventh, as outgoing Jack Sears Trophy winner Watson completed his weekend’s work with a third consecutive points-scoring finish in 14th.
Christian Dick, Team Principal, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK, said: “Silverstone was frustratingly another weekend where we came away feeling somewhat short-changed for the performance we displayed. It was good to get both Corollas inside the top ten on the grid – and Andrew would actually have qualified fifth had it not been for a penalty carried over from Donington Park – but the weather and various circumstances just seemed to conspire against us on Sunday.
“Rob was a bit of a pinball in the races, finding himself repeatedly on the receiving end of contact. That cost him a solid points-scoring result in race one and quite likely a top five finish in race three, but he certainly showed his speed in the challenging conditions.
“Andrew drove very well in the first two races and was unlucky with the penalty in the second of them, before bringing his car safely home in what began as pretty biblical rain in race three to score a couple more championship points. Now, we turn our attentions to Brands Hatch and to finishing the season in style!”
Rob Huff, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK, said: “The track had been re-laid and had changed quite a bit in terms of the kerbs since I’d last been there seven years previously, so I spent much of free practice trying to figure out what the car needed. We had a few little niggly issues in FP1, but FP2 was much better and helped us to build some confidence.
“We were hoping to be further up the grid in qualifying. We were really quick in Q1 and comfortable with it, but then it rained and the dry set-up we have on the Corolla varies a lot from its wet set-up. We didn’t have chance to change it properly, and it was also my first time at Silverstone in the wet in probably 20 years.
“It’s always so tight around the ‘National’ layout that you have to absolutely nail the lap, and you only really get one proper shot at it on the wet tyre, and I think we just missed the boat a little. I was a bit too cautious, and unfortunately, that put us in the midst of the mayhem for race day.
“I got pushed into the gravel in race one, which was annoying and meant we had to start at the back for race two, from where we got up to 11th. The Corolla felt absolutely mega in the last race – we adapted it a lot and in the really wet conditions, it was brilliant. We climbed to fourth pretty quickly but when the track began to dry out slightly after the red flag, the front tyres overheated and we lost grip, which left us just sitting and waiting. To then get fired off twice more was extremely frustrating!”
Andrew Watson, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK, said: “It was a relatively clean weekend for me overall – no headlines or trophies, but solid enough. Our pace in the dry on Saturday was good, but we struggled a little bit in the wet. It was difficult to know what changes we needed to make to cater to the different conditions in qualifying and how the car would react to them, so to only narrowly miss out on making it through to Q3 I think was a reasonable performance. It also gave us an indication about what further tweaks we should make for Sunday.
“We didn’t have the pace of the leaders in race one, but we were able to run comfortably inside the top ten and I was happy to take the points. At the start of race two, I couldn’t see where my grid tape was on the pit wall to line up properly so I had to guess and I evidently got it wrong. The penalty cost us another decent finish, so that was a shame.
“Race three was then simply about survival! The conditions were incredibly difficult – some of the trickiest I’ve ever driven in, especially being in the middle of the pack. I literally couldn’t see a thing; it was like flying through fog – really challenging. I was relieved that the safety car appeared and to get to the finish after the re-start. I think other people dealt a bit better with the situation, but overall, we did the best job we could – that was just where our performance was in the wet.”
