Salzburgring: Crash van Rob Huff

Sensational smash at the Salzburgring ends Rob Huff’s weekend Rob Huff walked away from a heavy crash at Austria’s Salzburgring circuit this weekend in the TCR International Series, with Huff’s Leopard Racing Team WRT Volkswagen Golf completely destroyed in an incredible quintuple roll at the infamous ‘Fahrerlagerkurve’. The 2012 World Touring Car champion walked away with just a bruised arm after a puncture sent his Golf GTI into the wall at 130mph during the first race. The British driver's Golf then launched into the air, before rolling five times before coming to rest. Huff was working his way up the order after starting last after a grid penalty for changing the engine, which the team carried out the previous evening after power issues had plagued him all weekend. The car was working well and Huff was focussed on the second race, where he was set to start fourth on the grid, before the incident on lap eight. Huff wasn’t the only driver to experience a puncture, with his team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay suffring the same fate, which caused the race to be red flagged just six laps later, with both Leopard Racing cars forced to sit out Race 2, where there were even more punctures at the same corner. Rob Huff said: “The safety car had just come out, but before the team had a chance to tell me, the tyre just went and it sent me into the barriers. “It’s a testament to the strength of these cars that I’m not injured, beyond a bruise from where I hit my arm on the roll cage. “We knew the front left tyres were going to be an issue here, so we went with a safe set-up so I’m surprised it happened. We didn’t push too hard on the warm up lap or the first few laps, as we didn’t need to; my focus was on Race 2 where I had a good grid position, but unfortunately what we tried didn’t seem to work.” The team’s now working hard to find a replacement car for the next race, which takes place in just four days at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest, where the TCR International Series shares the bill with Germany’s premier touring car series, the DTM.