Daniel Lloyd will hope to get his 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign firmly on track this weekend when the series heads to Brands Hatch for the second meeting of the year.
Huddersfield-based racer Daniel made his debut with Team HARD in the season opener at Donington Park two weeks ago, which also marked the first race weekend for his all-new Cupra Leon – which had been built by the team over the winter.
Despite a lack of pre-season running, Daniel showed encouraging pace from the outset, lapping consistently around the top ten in free practice and then missing out on the top-ten shootout in qualifying by just a tenth of a second.
Race day however would provide Daniel with a number of additional challenges, with an off-track excursion due to contact whilst well placed in race one and tyre trouble in race three limiting him to a best finish of 14th from the rain-affected second race.
Despite the final results being less than he had hoped for, there was plenty of knowledge gained over the course of the opening weekend, which Daniel will now look to benefit from as he heads to Team HARD’s home circuit for the next three races of the season.
Brands Hatch has been a happy hunting ground for Daniel in the past, with eight top-ten finishes during his time in the BTCC including a victory in the final round of 2022 – albeit on the longer Grand Prix layout.
The Cupra has also gone well at the circuit previously with podium finishes around the Indy circuit in each of the past two seasons, and Daniel will now hope to try and add to that run of success during the weekend ahead, where he will be cheered on trackside by guests from major partner Technology Desking.
“The results on paper from Donington Park don’t really reflect how we performed and in all three races, there were circumstances outside my control that affected our results,” he said.
“Going to Brands Hatch this weekend, I’m looking to build on the positives that we were able to take away from round one, and if we can avoid the misfortune we suffered two weeks ago, then I think we’ll be in good shape.
“Obviously this is still a very new programme for me and we’re learning more and more every time we go out on track. We have a lot to work through in practice and various things that we want to try out but the ingredients are all there – we’ve just got to bring it all together.
“Having shown top-ten pace out of the box during the season opener, that’s got to be the first target but in each of the last two seasons, the Cupra has come away from Brands Hatch with a podium in the reverse grid race. If we could make it a hat-trick this weekend, it would be a great way to really kick my season into gear.”
