FANTASTIC LLOYD DELIVERS DOUBLE POINTS FINISH ON BTCC DEBUT

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rookie Daniel Lloyd delivered a truly outstanding performance on his debut in the UK’s biggest motor racing series at Croft Circuit over the weekend, 19th/20th June – the TNT Post backed driver securing a stunning points finish in two of the three races.

Qualifying a tremendous 11th on the grid for his maiden BTCC event, 18-year-old Daniel – the youngest racer in the championship – exceeded all expectations by fighting his way through to seventh place in the first encounter, round 13.

Shadowing experienced Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate James Nash, the pair split by just 0.6 seconds at the chequered flag, Daniel also ended his maiden touring car race ahead of a string of front-running stars.

Although the second encounter was a trickier prospect, the Huddersfield teenager receiving quite a bit of contact on his way to a 14th place finish, in round 15 he more than made amends with his second points result of the weekend in a deserved eighth place – just 0.085 seconds behind multiple BTCC race winner Mat Jackson.

Making a huge impact on his maiden weekend as a BTCC driver, Daniel underlined his tremendous ability and proved he is more than a match for some of the country’s top saloon car racers at the wheel of his TNT Post-liveried Vauxhall Vectra.

“It’s been an absolutely fantastic weekend”, he commented, “I have to say a massive thank you to Andy Goddard at TNT Post for helping to make this happen and to Ian Harrison and everyone at Triple Eight, they gave me an amazing car and did an incredible job.

“It wasn’t easy, we had a puncture in the first practice and then some brake problems in qualifying, but all in all I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. We had a glitch in the middle race, and that was the one we didn’t want any problems in as we started seventh on the grid, but other than that it went well. I really couldn’t have asked for any better than seventh place in my first BTCC race!”

Daniel added: “The third race was one of the toughest I’ve ever had, I made a good start and made up some good places as the car started coming to me. I got a bit messed up by (Matt) Neal in front when he had a puncture, that cost me a few places, but I got back on with it and ended up eighth – a brilliant result. I’m absolutely over the moon.”

With just two short practice sessions in which to familiarise himself, and with the first one affected by an unfortunate puncture, Daniel headed into qualifying with only limited running behind him. Forced to pit to rectify a brake problem, the reigning ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup Champion had one flying lap at the end in which to post a competitive time – which he did, 1m25.858 seconds (89.10mph).

Missing out on a top 10 start for the first race by just 0.2 seconds, Daniel progressed brilliantly in all three encounters – which were screened live throughout the UK on ITV4 – and having secured two impressive top 10 points scores on his debut he now hopes to be able to raise the required backing for the next three rounds of the BTCC season which take place in seven weeks time.

Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk will host rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship over the weekend 7th/8th August. In the meantime, highlights from the Croft BTCC races will be screened throughout the coming week on the ITV network – please check listings for full details.