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Rob Huff: winning the World Touring Car Championship 2012

Winning the World Touring Car Championship in 2012 was so special, it was my dream come true. I’ve always loved touring cars and never wanted to race anything other than touring cars. When I was a kid, there wasn’t the WTCC, the big championship was the British one. It was an amazing moment when I won the Seat drive in the BTCC and at the time, getting to compete in the championship was the stuff of dreams. I didn’t spend much time in the BTCC before I was whipped away to drive in the WTCC and somewhat thrown in at the deep end. Ray and Elaine Mallock took a gamble on me at the end of 2004 and to show them that they chose the right person, by giving them a world championship, on the very last year of the programme, was really special.

Of all the races during the 2012 season, race 2 at Brazil probably stands out above all others. I went round the outside of Gabriele Tarquini into turn one. It was probably the best overtaking move of my career to date. Not many people overtake Gabriele, let alone round the outside. To outbrake him at the end of a long straight and make it stick, there’s not that many who have gone round the outside and stayed on the track. We’ve always had a lot of respect for each and we’ve had our moments with racing incidents, but after the race he came over and congratulated me on the manoeuvre, which made it just that bit more special.

The moment when I received the WTCC trophy on stage at the FIA awards will always stand out. Up on stage with Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Loeb, I almost felt like a fan up on stage with them. Sebastien Loeb has tested with the team a couple of times, so I’ve bumped into him a few times over the years, but it was the first time I’d met Sebastian Vettel, we had a good awards evening, plenty of chit chat and got on well. It was all a little surreal but I thoroughly enjoyed the awards and hopefully I will get to experience them again!

Rob Huff

World Touring Car Champion 2012

www.robhuff.com Follow on Twitter @Huffsport

Our sincere thanks go to @celebkarting and @racedriversinc for making this memory possible. Rob was interviewed whilst participating in the Autosport International Karting Challenge (AIKC), run in association with Race Drivers Inc. and presented by Johnny Herbert.

The AIKC was held in honour of Dan Wheldon, the late IndyCar Champion and double Indianapolis 500 winner, with all proceeds going to the Wheldon family's nominated charity, Alzhiemer`s Society (Registered Charity No. 296645).

 

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Memory added on February 18, 2013

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Image copyright Rob HuffImage copyright Rob Huff