Huff's double victories prove too little, too late

Robert Huff won both legs of the FIA World Touring Car Championship yesterday, but still felt down in the dumps after Chevrolet teammate and rival Yvan Muller thrillingly pipped him to the world championship title by a mere three points.

'He gave me a hard time and deserved to win. But at the end of the day, I did just enough to win my third world championship title. It has been a great season for me,' said a champagne-soaked Muller.

Briton Huff began the day knowing he needed to pull off something spectacular to win his first world championship as he trailed Frenchman Muller by 28 points in the drivers' standings.

And the 31-year-old Cambridge-born driver did it by winning both of the nine-lap legs in an incident-filled race that included spectacular crashes by hometown heroes Andre Couto and Daryl O'Young.

But it still was not enough as Muller stuck like a limpet and finished the two races in second and third place to earn enough points to be crowned world champion for a third time.

'I did everything I could. I won pole position here and won the two races, but it wasn't enough. It is really disappointing. If someone had told me at the start of the season that I would win eight races, win four poles and still not win the world championship, I wouldn't have believed them,' said Huff (pictured).

The first leg of the race got off to a stunning start when Macau's Couto lost control of his vehicle to slide broadside into the barriers at Lisboa Corner. He then careered across the track taking out Alain Menu, who had been third in the world standings.