Huff rues 'soul destroying' puncture

The 28-year-old Briton has won a race in each of the last three WTCC seasons thought he had added to his victory at Valencia earlier this season when he was leading his home race with three laps to go. But a left front puncture forced him into the pits and he dropped to 21st.

"I felt a vibration at the front so I eased off and kept off the kerbs, but the tyre popped off the rim on the next lap and my dreams were shattered," he said.

"You have to expect the odd puncture, and I've been very lucky not to have had one in my whole career, but it had to happen when I was five km away from winning.

"I pretty much started crying there and then because I knew my weekend was over. I wasn't going to win at Brands Hatch and I wasn't going to score any points. It was a bit soul destroying."

Huff had qualified third for the race with 46kg of success ballast in his Chevrolet Lacetti and took the lead on the first lap when Augusto Farfus and Alain Menu collided at Druids.

"After qualifying I thought I was in for a good points haul, then Alain and Farfus had their little thing which left the door wide open for me. I had Jorg Muller behind me but I pushed hard to open a gap and just maintained it.

"Taking the positives out of the weekend, we'll lose ten kilos (of ballast) for Oschersleben so I'll be in one of the lightest front-wheel drive cars. I'll just have to put Brands down as character-building and try to win in Germany."