Before the action even got underway, there was drama in the second race of the TCR UK meeting at Knockhill. Championship contender, Aiden Moffat, was left stranded in pit-lane following a driveshaft failure in the opening race that his team had not been able to fix in time. With no points to take home from either race, Moffat has had a weekend to forget and is now firmly on the back foot in the drivers’ championship points table.
As for those who could make the start of the race, the reversed grid meant that Sean Walkinshaw and Darelle Wilson would line up on the front row of the grid. As the race got underway, however, Lewis Kent out-dragged Wilson’s Vauxhall and promptly moved up into second place. On entry to the first corner hairpin, Kent then bumped into the rear of Walkinshaw’s Honda, allowing the youngster in the Hyundai to take the lead of the race for the first time in his TCR UK career.
Sean Walkinshaw would start race two from pole position. Credit: Craig McAllister/CMC-Images
Just behind, Josh Price also made his way past Wilson’s Vauxhall, while contact from Ollie Taylor saw Finlay Crocker slide into the gravel trap at Clarke curve. Crocker wouldn’t be particularly overwhelmed by his treatment from Taylor as this led to a trip into the pit-lane; his weekend had gone from bad in race one, to much worse in race two.
On lap three, Dan Lloyd was making inroads into the top positions. Up past Wilson on the inside line into the hairpin, Lloyd had moved up to fourth place, while Jessica Backman and Ollie Taylor made slight contact just behind. The following lap, Price completed an overtake on Walkinshaw to move up into second position, and it wasn’t long before Lloyd and Jessica Backman had got past the Honda either.
With twenty-five minutes left on the clock, Lloyd then moved ahead of Jessica Backman, claiming third place after she made an error at the turn one hairpin. At the front meanwhile, Kent out-breaked himself which allowed Price to take over the lead of the race. On the exit of the hairpin, Lloyd was on the move again, this time getting better traction off the corner than Kent in order to grab second place.
Lewis Kent’s promising early pace was quashed by severe wear on one of his tyres. Credit: Craig McAllister/CMC-Images
For Lewis Kent, this would signal the beginning of an ongoing lack of pace due to having shredded one of his tyres completely. Running wide through Clarke curve, Jessica Backman was the next to take advantage as she moved up into third place on the inside line. Walkinshaw and Jessica’s brother, Andreas, soon followed suit and passed Kent too.
As the cars headed into Butcher’s corner, Dan Lloyd produced an audacious overtake on Josh Price, around the outside to take the lead of the race in spectacular fashion. It seems that so far this season, nobody has an answer to Daniel Lloyd’s exceptional on-track exploits. Aiden Moffat might be the man to challenge him, but that would require the Scotsman’s Alfa Romeo to be in working condition over a consistent amount of time; something which we are really yet to see.
Jessica Backman had been running with good pace in this second race, but eventually had to concede her top three position to the on-rushing Sean Walkinshaw. Ollie Taylor was the next driver to challenge her, but on the entry to the hairpin, the pair made contact which resulted in both running out wide. Taylor would retire in the gravel trap with damage, while Jessica Backman would lose out to both Darelle Wilson and her brother Andreas.
Jessica Backman’s push for a podium finish ended after contact with Ollie Taylor. Credit: Craig McAllister/CMC-Images
Taylor’s stricken Honda needed to be recovered as it was stationary in an unsafe location, and so, the safety car was deployed. By the time the car was removed from the gravel trap, there was only a minute left on the clock. This meant that a one-lap shoot-out would decide the race. A piece of opportunistic driving from Darelle Wilson allowed him to capitalise on Andreas Backman running wide at the hairpin, and so the eye-catching green Vauxhall was now up into fourth place.
At the front though, Josh Price could do little to dethrone Daniel Lloyd as the race leader, and so for the fourth time this season it would be Lloyd who took victory as the chequered flag was waved.
Full Race Result:
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