Tom Chilton has full confidence in his one-off replacement for this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship races at Silverstone, saying that Rob Huff is doing everything required of him.
Chilton was forced to withdraw from the penultimate BTCC weekend of the season on medical grounds due to recently suffering from gallstones.
The Brit has been replaced for the weekend’s action by fellow World Touring Car Championship racer Huff, and he believes that the 2012 WTCC champion will take time to get up to speed, despite doing ‘everything right’ early on in the weekend.
“I hate not driving”, said Chilton to TouringCars.Net. “One of my best mates has hopped in the car and I’m watching him cruise around in my car and my overalls and I can’t drive it!
“He’s doing well – it’s very competitive; one second is covering 32 cars. It’s extremely close. At the moment he’s just doing everything he should be doing – trying different set ups and figuring out what everything does.”
Huff ended both of Saturday’s practice sessions 25th fastest, before going on to qualify in 28th as he continues to get used to the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra whilst also carrying 45 kg of ballast for being a 2017 championship ‘newcomer’.
“It’s very different to the WTCC car and I know it takes a bit of time to get used to,” added Chilton. “He hasn’t driven in the BTCC since 2004 and today is his first time in the car.
“The goal is to be top fifteen which is where our ‘window’ has been all year and hopefully Rob can pull it out of the bag!”