Rob Huff still leads the way in Monza

Rob Huff has set the standard his FIA World Touring Car Championship rivals must beat by going fastest during all four test sessions at Monza this week.

He lapped the 5.793-kilometre Italian Grand Prix track in an overall best time of 1m52.497s during Wednesday morning’s running for ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport. The Citroën privateer’s performance was comfortably inside his race lap-record pace from his WTCC title-winning season in 2012 when he clocked a 1m59.000s during the pre-TC1 regulations era.

“It’s only testing and counts for nothing but it gives me confidence that what we’re doing and the way we’re learning the car is in the right direction,” said the Briton. “I feel very happy with the car and the team did a great job. We were working through a test plan which doesn’t mean we were putting everything together to be as quick as we can, but we completed a lot of kilometres and everything worked. It’s as simple as that.”

Sébastien Loeb Racing pair Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton, plus ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel came closest to Huff’s pace, while WTCC rookie Yann Ehrlacher, nephew of four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller, impressed with third fastest on Tuesday afternoon for RC Motorsport.

Muller, meanwhile, joined fellow factory Volvo Polestar duo Thed Björk and Néstor Girolami in his role as development driver for Cyan Racing, the team behind the Swedish make’s WTCC effort, as works Honda trio, Norbert Michelisz, Tiago Monteiro and Ryo Michigami, focused on trying out new components having conducted significant running earlier in the year.

Testing was in preparation for WTCC AFRIQUIA Race of Morocco, the opening event of the season in Marrakech from 7-9 April. WTCC OSCARO Race of Italy takes place at Monza from 28-30 April.

Morning session (Tuesday 14 March)
1 Rob Huff (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport) 1m52.888s
2 Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.665s
3 Néstor Girolami (Polestar Cyan Racing) 1m54.277s
4 Thed Björk (Polestar Cyan Racing) 1m54.470s
5 Yvan Muller (Polestar Cyan Racing) 1m54.490s
6 Yann Ehrlacher (RC Motorsport) 1m54.811s

Afternoon session (Tuesday 14 March)
1 Rob Huff (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport) 1m53.039s
2 Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.336s
3 Yann Ehrlacher (RC Motorsport) 1m53.364s
4 Tom Chilton (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.366s
5 Yvan Muller (Polestar Cyan Racing) 1m54.346s
6 John Filippi (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m54.800s

Morning session (Wednesday 15 March)
1 Rob Huff (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport) 1m52.497s
2 Tom Chilton (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.682s
3 Tom Coronel (ROAL Motorsport) 1m53.926s
4 Néstor Girolami (Polestar Cyan Racing) 1m54.107s
5 John Filippi (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m54.164s
6 Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m54.307s

Afternoon session (Wednesday 15 March)
1 Rob Huff (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport) 1m52.600s
2 Tom Coronel (ROAL Motorsport) 1m53.255s
3 Tom Chilton (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.340s
4 Tiago Monteiro (Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team) 1m53.509s
5 Norbert Michelisz (Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team) 1m53.591s
6 Mehdi Bennani (Sébastien Loeb Racing) 1m53.789s