World Touring Car champion Rob Huff has revealed he is open to a British Touring Car return for 2013 if he cannot defend his world title.
Briton Huff was left without a seat when Chevrolet announced in July that it was withdrawing its factory WTCC team.
He only competed in one season of his national touring car series, driving a works RML-run SEAT in 2004 after winning the firm’s ’03 one-make category, before moving straight into the WTCC with RML’s Chevrolet programme.
“I’d love to go out and defend my title,” Huff told AUTOSPORT, “but the WTCC is probably the most difficult one to come off. I am really struggling to see a way that I could get out there.
“DTM or Aussie V8s, I’d love to race in. BTCC is also something I’d love to come back and do.
“Some people are going, ‘Oh, BTCC is a step back.’ OK, on paper it is a step back, but I am a racing driver. If someone wants to pay me to race a car that I can win in, then I’m there.”
Click here for AUTOSPORT’s full 2012 WTCC season review
Huff admitted it had been tough to explain his blank 2013 diary during UK media commitments after his title success.
“It is difficult, I should be out celebrating all the time but I am not,” said Huff. “I am working flat out trying to get something together for next year.
“I did Sky Sport News and they wanted to know what the big plans are for next year. I said, ‘Well, there aren’t any.’ [Presenter] Alex Hammond replied ‘Surely, as a world champion that should all take care of itself?’
“Well it should do, but unfortunately that is the sorrowful state of motorsport at the moment.”
Despite his determination to land a drive, Huff is unwilling to accept any seat. His limited interaction with rival teams during his nine-year RML stint has made finding a new deal slightly harder, he feels.
“I am not just going to drive any old rubbish at the end of the day,” explained Huff. “We have to be careful and very picky about what we do.
“The biggest problem is that I have kind of lived in a bubble for the last 10 years. My path has been laid for me, in the sense that I won the SEAT Cupra championship, got the drive with RML and have been with RML ever since. I don’t know anyone outside of RML – literally!
I have been speaking to a lot of people, who have given me a lot of contacts, but it is very difficult and I have led a very sheltered life in the last nine years, in the sense of teams.”
Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/btcc/huff-would-consider-btcc-return
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