Daniel Lloyd enjoyed his best weekend by far in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship this season with a stunning performance at Silverstone that saw him score a first win for the Restart Racing team.
Huddersfield racer Daniel went into the weekend looking to try and strengthen his quest for the Independents’ title, with just three points covering the top three drivers in the standings going into the penultimate meeting of the campaign.
Daniel was right on the pace across free practice at the wheel of his Hyundai i30 Fastback N to sit inside the top six, meaning confidence was high going into qualifying, where he took his place in the second group for Q1.
In tricky conditions with rain in the air, Daniel progressed to Q2 with the second best time and then went fourth quickest to take his spot inside the Quick Six battle for pole.
With the weather conditions getting worse and rain now coming down, Daniel was able to secure the fourth fastest time for his best qualifying result of the year to date.
Conditions were much improved for race one, with Daniel making an opportunistic move when the lights went out to grab third from Jake Hill on the run to Becketts.
Following Gordon Shedden through when the Scot made a move on Daryl Deleon at the start of lap two, Daniel then dived down the inside of the Toyota driver into Brooklands to grab the lead.
A series of quick laps allowed him to build a slender lead at the front before the safety car was called out due a car further down the pack pulling off the track in flames. The race would remain under caution to the finish, with Daniel taking the flag out front for his fifth BTCC victory, and a first for the team in only its second season in the series.
Running on the medium tyre for race two, Daniel bravely held on to a podium position in the early stages but was ultimately shuffled back down the order by rivals who were on the quicker soft rubber.
Despite that, he took the flag in sixth spot for a second Independents’ class win of the win to strengthen his position at the top, although it would be a difficult end to the weekend in race three when contact at Becketts dropped him to the rear of the field.
It would leave Daniel back in 17th place, although he ends the weekend with a five point lead in the Independents’ standings with just the Brands Hatch season finale left to run.
Daniel’s Silverstone performance does mean however that Restart Racing can now not be caught in the Independents’ Team Trophy with three races remaining.
“It was an amazing weekend and it’s great to get my first BTCC win since the final round of 2022 – and a first for the team,” he said. “We showed good pace in practice in the dry and did a good job in qualifying to score our best result of the year in what were pretty difficult conditions.
“I was confident going into the opening race and the first two laps, I just managed to put the car in the perfect position to come through into the lead which was amazing, and once we got the lead I managed the boost to help us keep a gap.
“It was a bit of a shame that the race ended behind the safety car, but I’m so pleased for the whole team that we got the victory because we really earned it. It wasn’t down to us getting lucky with a reverse grid, we did it on genuine pace and because we deserved to be at the front, which is just fantastic.
“We sealed the Teams’ Championship with another Independents win in race two despite the challenge of moving onto the medium tyre, and we improved the car for race three but I got taken out on the first lap which I could nothing about.
“The car took a lot of damage but I kept going to finish third in the Independents’ class which was important for the championship, and it certainly won’t dampen what happened earlier in the day.
“I had nearly 50 guests with me all weekend so was able to share the success with plenty of people, and my partners all benefitted from some really good coverage on TV. Brands Hatch GP is my favourite circuit on the calendar and I’ve won there before, so I’m going to go there in a fortnight in a good place.”
