The heavens opened for the final round of races in the 2018 TCR UK championship, setting a rather emphatic scene for the conclusion to this year’s title battle. Only Ollie Taylor could stop Dan Lloyd from securing the inaugural TCR UK championship honours, but to do so only a mega result would suffice.
With Lloyd on pole position, it was always going to be an uphill fight for Taylor, but things would get even more difficult for the Pyro Motorsport driver at turn one. In an attempt to pass Jessica Backman on the outside line, Taylor ran too deep into the corner, losing a big chunk of positions right from the outset.
Josh Price, meanwhile, had an incredible start. The youngster had started the race from tenth place on the grid, but after the opening lap found himself up as high as third place, clearly adapting far quicker to the track conditions than a lot of his rivals.
With ten minutes left on the clock, Ollie Taylor still hadn’t given up the fight. A pass on Stewart Lines got him back inside the top five, but Lloyd was running away with proceedings way out in front.
A little further up ahead, Josh Price continued his charge up the order. This time, the Honda driver made a brave move under heavy braking to overtake Andreas Backman for second place. Sadly though, the star of the race wouldn’t get to see the chequered flag. Just as had been the case at Brands Hatch, Price’s car fell victim to technical issues, and so his race came to a rather premature end.
With Ollie Taylor stuck down in fourth place, the job was done for Dan Lloyd. A truly dominant display of driving would secure his eighth race win of the season, and with it the TCR UK driver’s championship. Over the course of the season, Lloyd and the WestCoast Racing team have been the class of the field, and made for highly deserving winners.
On his championship victory and year-long financial struggles, Lloyd had this to say: “I’m just over the moon. It’s felt like such a long summer; we made a good start, but with a few things like ballast, penalty points and a failure at Croft, it started going the other way. But I kept positive, kept focused and just did everything I could and put everything into it. The team at WestCoast Racing have been faultless, I owe it all to them and I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without them.
“It was only supposed to be a one-race deal, and we’ve built from that. On paper everyone says I should win it, but it comes with a different type of pressure, it’s expected of you. But I’m pleased about what we’ve done this year, it’s had it’s ups and downs but what I would like to say is – without this championship, I wouldn’t have started racing anything this year.
“It’s led to other good things, it’s brought on new sponsors, so whether it’s a huge series or a smaller one, it is what you make of it. Thanks again to everyone for all their supportive comments.”
Full Race Result:
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