Daniel Lloyd was left to reflect on what might have been at Donington Park after a frustrating weekend of action during the latest rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.
The Huddersfield-based racer went into the weekend keen to try and build on the impressive race pace he has displayed in recent events with his focus firmly on trying to push into the top six and to challenge for his best results of the campaign to date.
Pre-event testing around the full Grand Prix layout suggested plenty of reason for optimism for Daniel ahead of a weekend where he welcomed back Aqua Nero as one of his racing partners, with his Toro Verde GT-run car showing solid pace across two days of running.
With the pace being particularly quick in wet conditions and the potential for rain across the weekend, hopes were high going into qualifying but in a session that was neither wet nor dry, he had to settle for the eleventh best time.
As had been the case in the previous two races, the qualifying result would ultimately be the catalyst for what was to follow in the races as overtaking once again proved to be far from straightforward – a fact driven home by their being only one change in position in the top six across the 19 laps.
Daniel battled hard in the midfield pack after losing two spots at the start, and whilst he was able to fight his way back ahead of Will Aspin, he had to settle for twelfth overall and tenth in class by the finish.
Having lost ground again at the start of race two when he was forced to take avoiding action following a clash ahead at turn one, Daniel fought back well to climb back up into P12 where he joined a train of cars battling for the top eight places despite losing the front splitter on his car when he clipped a tyre stack at the Esses.
Unfortunately, despite the strong race pace he was displaying, Daniel would be unable to progress further through the field as he took ninth in class, with his focus now turning towards Silverstone next month where he will bid to push higher up the order.
”It’s been a tricky weekend, which once again goes back to qualifying,” he reflected. “We didn’t manage to get the lap in when the circuit was at its best in the wet conditions which was a shame, as there was more in the car given the pace we had shown in testing earlier in the week.
”In race one I was dealing with understeer early in the race which cost me ground and then in race two, I dropped right down the order avoiding a clash at turn one which left me with work to do to try and climb back through the field. The car was quick and I was able to make up places but then I clipped the tyre stack and lost the splitter, which meant I lost all the front downforce and was then losing time through the quick corners on every lap. Despite that, I got up to twelfth and we raced well but I couldn’t get higher.
”They weren’t results I wanted, which is unfortunate as I’d have loved to bring home some top eight finishes for the partners who were there supporting me.”
