Daniel Lloyd will hope to enter the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship’s summer break on a high with a strong showing as he returns to Oulton Park this weekend.
The Huddersfield-racer almost saw his 2022 season derailed at the Cheshire circuit twelve months ago when, after a brace of solid top-ten finishes, he found himself involved in the biggest accident of his career in the final race of the weekend.
Suffering an impact of more than 50G when his stricken car was struck at more than 100mph, Daniel was lucky to avoid serious injury but made an astonishing return to action just two week later – where he promptly scored a pair of race victories.
As he prepares to return to the Cheshire circuit for the first time since the accident, Daniel will hope to build on the flashes of pace he has been able to display so far this season at the wheel of his Team HARD-run Cupra Leon.
Whilst a brace of top-ten finishes have been the best results to date with the all-new car, extensive work with his engineering team have resulted in Daniel feeling more at home at the wheel of the Cupra – although circumstances outside his control have prevented him from maximising that work in recent meetings.
With a car now very much ‘in the window’ when it comes to set-up, Daniel makes the journey to Oulton Park confident about his chances of securing his best results of the year to date, with the 31-year-old also bidding to close in on the top three in the Independents’ Trophy.
“One thing for certain going into this weekend is I hope it goes a lot better than it did twelve months ago!” he said. “It will be a bit weird heading back to Oulton Park, but once the green light comes on and we hit the track, last year will all be forgotten.
“Although we didn’t get the results we were looking for last time out at Thruxton, there were more positives for us to take away in terms of the work we carried out on the car, and we are certainly in a much stronger position now than we were at the start of the season.
“Going into this weekend, I really hope we can realise the potential that we know is in the Cupra and enjoy a clean run with no dramas across the three races. I feel confident that we can score a decent haul of points and if we can be in a position to benefit from the reverse grid in race three, then anything is possible.”
