After a blip in race one, Daniel Lloyd claimed victory in the second TCR UK Series race at Castle Combe this afternoon, taking his tally to seven wins out of eight races.
Initially, Carl Swift, who joined him on the front row of the starting grid, got a better getaway than the WestCoast Racing stalwart. However, it wasn’t enough to dislodge Lloyd from the lead of the race. Ollie Taylor was another driver who got a good start, moving up a position into fourth place.
Five minutes in, Taylor then made another overtake, this time on the Hyundai i30N TCR of Lewis Kent for third position. Clearly one of the quicker drivers on the grid, Taylor then wasted no time in closing up to the back of Swift’s Cupra. However, as Swift defended and bunched the pack up behind him, Kent spotted an opportunity to try and re-pass Taylor. Contact was made though, and after a brief trip across the grass, Kent re-emerged behind Jessica Backman in fifth place.
Heading into Quarry bend a couple of laps later, Ollie Taylor and Andreas Backman pulled off simultaneous overtakes on Carl Swift and Lewis Kent respectively. Taylor’s charge up the order appeared as though it had come to an end though, as by now Daniel Lloyd had stretched out a large margin over the rest of the pack.
The Backman siblings then battled over fourth place, with Andreas getting the better of his sister, again at Quarry bend. At the same corner on the following lap, Stewart Lines overtook Derek Palmer jr for seventh place, before promptly repeating the manoeuvre on Lewis Kent the next time around.
As the race neared its final third of the distance, Lines then tried an optimistic attempt at an overtake on Jessica Backman. The two cars collided at the final corner and span off at high speed into the tyre barriers. The crash was particularly ironic as Lines had been quoted earlier in the day as being critical of Backman’s role in the incident with Finlay Crocker at the start of race one.
Following the intervention of the safety car, Lewis Kent got the better of Andreas Backman after the re-start, but then ran wide through the chicane and promptly lost out once again to both Backman and Derek Palmer jr. Up ahead, Carl Swift had earlier been given a five second penalty for exceeding track limits, but this was successfully appealed post-race.
So, with Taylor unable to launch a meaningful attack after the safety car, Daniel Lloyd sauntered home to victory ahead of his rival from Team Pyro. Carl Swift will be elated, however, as he completed the top three in order to score his first ever TCR UK Series podium finish.
Full Race Result:
[table id=3228 /]
