Daniel Lloyd battling the Thruxton rain - Photo: Malcolm Griffiths
Daniel Lloyd's superb start to his debut season in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB reached new heights at Thruxton.
The 20-year-old became the first Scholar to win in the championship after taking the flag in an eventful Round 6 on Sunday.
Lloyd overcame constantly changing track conditions as well as a missing front splitter on his Porsche 911 GT3 to emerge from the action victorious, and was delighted to win in just his sixth race in the series.
He said: “It was such a hard race; we've had a hard weekend full stop, so it's just amazing to come away with my first win in Porsche – unbelievable!
“Massive thanks to everyone who has made this happen, Porsche GB for the Scholarship prize, the guys at Team Parker Racing, my fantastic sponsors and, of course, my family – especially my dad who's been there through thick and thin.”
The West Yorkshireman qualified eighth but after the fifth round began under Safety Car conditions, ran as high as fourth until breaking his front splitter. He slipped to fifth, and held it to the flag.
His drive in race two went some way to the decision to name him 'Driver of the Weekend'. A terrific start saw him jump into fourth at the start and he quickly moved into third, then second, passing points leader Michael Meadows Church Corner.
The track continued to dry, with the majority of runners on slicks, but more rain fell in the second half of the race – good news for Lloyd, who had again lost his front splitter over the kerbs. In his own words: “After the splitter came off, I thought I was done.”
Lloyd began to close back in on leader Rory Butcher, making another important move at Church, and led into the penultimate lap. He held off the attentions of Glynn Geddia to win by 0.5 seconds.
He reflected: “As the track was drying more and more I started to lose touch with Rory [Butcher] and Michael [Meadows] was catching me again, then it started to spit with rain again and so the problems with the splitter didn't matter as much. It was still a big problem, and the car was a handful, but not as bad as it was before.”
Lloyd's win, coupled with a fifth-place finish in a very wet Round Five, has propelled him to third in the championship, which returns in six weeks at Oulton Park.
In the meantime, the Huddersfield racer will run in the Jane Tomlinson Leeds Half Marathon for the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice. His justgiving page is here: www.justgiving.com/daniellloydracing-halfmarathon.
