The 2009 Clio winter cup champion Daniel Lloyd will make his first appearance in endurance racing at Brand Hatch this weekend in the British GT Championship driving for Barwell Motorsport in their G4 category Ginetta G50.
Daniel who made an appearance at Croft in the BTCC earlier this year, where he took two points finishes in the three races, was delighted with the late deal and is looking forwards to getting behind the wheel. “I can't wait to get down to Brands at the weekend, meet the team and have my first taste of the G50 as I know what a great car it is,” he said. “We've been saying for a long time GT racing is where my future could lie so I really do hope we can do a good job and make a bit of an impact.”
The 18 year old from Huddersfield will be joined for the two 1 hour endurance races by Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup racer Julien Draper who will also be making his debut in the series. Although both newcomers, Draper’s G50 experience is a big boost and Lloyed is confident of making the most during the practice sessions on Saturday morning to bring himself up to speed.
“It's going to be challenging to learn the car, get into the mindset needed for GT racing and to also work on the driver change pit-stop as I've never experienced that before but I'm sure Julien and I will do a good job,” added Daniel, “I want to thank Chris Needell at Barwell, Julien and my manager Tim Sugden for the opportunity – I'm really looking forward to it.”
Barwell team manager Chris Needell is confident of the talented youngster and hopes both drivers will produce a good result at the famous Kent circuit. “Obviously, Daniel will be throwing himself in at the deep end a bit by not having had chance to test the car but he's a very talented young lad and we're looking forward to working with him. He started his career racing Ginettas in the Junior Championship so it's a bit of a return for him, we're sure he's going to enjoy it.” Chris said. “G4 is a very competitive class, there have been three or four Ginettas battling hard all season and they obviously have an advantage in terms of experience. It'll be tough for Daniel and Julien to think about trying to win the class but we are heading to Brands targeting a podium.”
Although this is the penultimate meeting of the season, it will be the first time this year the Barwell team will have entered a Ginetta G50 in the G4 class along with their current Aston Martin in the GT3 categoy.
