Having started his career in 1989 in the British Formula Ford Junior 1600 series, and winning the same series the following year, Hughes progressed through various junior single-seater formulae, such as the British Formula 3 Championship and the Formula Three Japan. Although he briefly switched to touring car racing in 1996, competing in the Super Tourenwagen Cup, and entered the MGF Cup in 1999, winning the series, he did not switch away from single-seater racing fully until 2001, when, having been signed by MG, he entered both the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the BTCC. He competed in both competitions the following year, and remained in the BTCC in 2003; however, he did not have much success in either competition, and left MG at the end of 2003, after they ended their motorsport programme. In 2004, he entered part of the British GT Championship, the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Series, and entered various events of the latter series up until 2012. During that time, he also competed in events that were part of various other series, notably the American Le Mans Series (in 2005 and 2012) and the FIA GT1 World Championship (in 2010 and 2011). Having won the SPEED EuroSeries in 2011, he became a regular driver in the British GT Championship in 2012 (in addition to entering in events that were part of the FIA World Endurance Championship), and he won the GT4 category that season, driving with Jody Fannin in a Team WFR-entered Ginetta G50.