Taylor takes maiden victory after penalty for Lloyd

The opening race of the TCR UK Series weekend at Castle Combe was one of high attrition. Howard Fuller missed out due to a lack of financial backing, while mechanical woes sidelined Darelle Wilson and Robert Gilmour before the race had even begun.

Ollie Taylor made a positive start from pole position, though the same couldn’t be said for Dan Lloyd who slipped back to fourth place in the early stages. On the first lap, a big incident between Jessica Backman and Finlay Crocker caused both cars to spear off in opposite directions at Quarry bend. As Crocker’s Honda came back across the track, it was collected by Stewart Lines who then had to return to pit lane. Crocker was an immediate retirement, while a lengthy pit-stop for Jessica Backman meant that she dropped two laps behind.

After the early safety car period, Lloyd managed to re-pass Lewis Kent at roughly the half-way stage before quickly sweeping past his WestCoast Racing team-mate Andreas Backman to reclaim second place. The race was eventually reduced to a last lap battle for victory between Taylor and Lloyd.

Unfortunately, this also resulted in contact at Quarry bend. Lloyd dived into a narrow gap on the inside line, pitching the Honda Civic FK8 TCR of Ollie Taylor sideways. Luckily, Taylor didn’t lose out to Backman in third place, which meant that the stewards could easily reverse the positions post-race.

Overall, only six cars made it to the finish.

Full Race Result: