Daniel Lloyd enjoyed a strong end to his campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB with a brace of top five finishes at Brands Hatch – and it could have been even better without the influence of the British weather.
Huddersfield-racer Daniel headed into the season finale buoyed by a first podium finish since returning to the fastest one-make series in the UK, having battled his way to a strong third place at Silverstone two weeks earlier.
It meant confidence was high when he arrived at the famous ex-Grand Prix circuit in Kent and he was immediately on the pace in official testing at the wheel of his Toro Verde GT-run car as he posted the sixth best time.
Daniel was able to carry that form into qualifying on Saturday, where he improved his fastest time to end up seventh quickest, although a small error on his final lap prevented him from battling for what could well have been a place on the front row.
Undeterred, Daniel made a strong launch off the line but then lost a spot at Druids when he found himself on the outside line through the right-hander.
Moving up into seventh on lap four when Daniel forced Sid Smith into an error ahead, he then immediately took sixth when leader Will Martin went off the road to bring out the safety car.
On the restart, Daniel found himself on the tail of a gaggle of cars dicing for the podium positions and nipped ahead of former BTCC rival George Gamble late on at Westfield to take fifth spot.
That left Daniel to start the season finale from pole position, providing the ideal opportunity to try and round out the campaign with a trip to the top step of the podium.
The weather gods had other ideas however as rain started to fall, leaving teams with a decision to take on which way to go with set-up, with the only certainty being wet tyres were required.
Electing to go with a set-up that was geared more towards the dry in the hope that conditions would improve, Daniel initially held the lead at the start before dropping down to second on the exit of Graham Hill Bend.
Fighting hard to keep Gamble at bay, Daniel slipped to third when his rival pulled a similar move to the one that Daniel himself at made in race one but was well set for a podium finish until three laps from the end when he ran slightly wide at Stirlings and dipped a wheel in the gravel as the rain intensified.
It saw him slip down to fifth spot and despite the disappointment of the missed silverware, marked a strong end to his first campaign in the current version of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
“The pace this weekend in the dry was mega, so it was just a shame that the weather conditions changed before race two when we were looking good at the front of the grid,” he said. “Practice and qualifying went really well and had other not been a small mistake then I think we’ve have been on for a front row at least, which is a sign of the progress we’ve made over the season.
“The first race was positive and we made the most of the speed in the car to fight our way up into a position to benefit from the reverse grid, and I felt confident that we would be able to challenge for victory – and then it rained.
“We elected to go with a drier set-up on the car but obviously on wet rubber, but it didn’t quite pay off as the car was quite loose on the rear and when the weather got worse, I had a small trip through the gravel that dropped me off the podium.
“It was a shame as I’m sure the win would have been on if the race had been dry, but even with the disappointment of missing out on another podium, this has been a really positive way to round out the season.
“Our pace before the rain came was the strongest it’s been all season and all of the guests from Technology Desking, The Swiss Link, Mongoose Social, Calder IT, Aqua Nero, Marc Webb Building and the Daniel Lloyd Racing Members Club who came along had a great day.
“Recent results have led to positive talks about next year and whilst there is a lot to do in the next few weeks, things look good.”
