Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor says he is very happy to have continued his strong momentum in both TCR UK races at Castle Combe this weekend, after his race one victory has now been confirmed with the stewards.
In the opening race Taylor led the way from pole while rival Dan Lloyd slipped back before recovering and catching Taylor in the closing stages.
The pair then made contact at Quarry Corner on the final lap, with Lloyd emerging on top before being handed a one-second post-race time penalty for the forceful move.
WestCoast Racing appealed the decision, but after a stewards meeting following race two, Taylor’s victory was confirmed.
“We were told we won race one, they put in a protest,” explained Taylor. “It then went to the stewards, and we had to present all our evidence. And then they’ve just given the decision.
“The appeal was dismissed, P1 for us stands.”
Despite the off-track appeals, Taylor said he has thoroughly enjoyed his weekend at Castle Combe, enjoying good pace and delivering a double podium.
In race two, he felt he could have challenged eventual winner Lloyd if he had made progress quicker through the field.
“It was a fun race, I really enjoyed it,” he said. “The pressure was off with Dan [Lloyd] starting at the front, when Dan is behind you from lights out it’s always slightly more pressured.
“So I was always going to enjoy it. I lost too much time at the start to Lewis [Kent] and Carl [Swift], especially Carl who is very defensive, but I always knew I was going to get past them it was just when.
“I was hoping it would have been sooner, to latch onto Dan. But Dan and I – our pace was so similar – that once he’d gone he’d gone.”
“I prayed for a safety car and one came out. The lights went off as it pulled into the pit lane and Dan’s car completely obscured the view of the pace car. So I didn’t realise it had gone until he bolted and luckily the Honda revved, I just floored it in first gear and it revved.
“I thought we’d have at least one more lap, maybe one last lap and shoot to the finish. But so overall it was a good fun race.”
After winning race one and scoring second in the reverse-grid contest, Taylor said it was a great feeling to finally beat Lloyd and “get the monkey off his back” with the victory.
He was also happy to bring his Honda Civic Type R FK7 home with no damage, ahead of two test days this coming week.
“Race one win, which I know we didn’t cross the line first but that was ours to win. We led the whole race and dominated really, so it was good,” said Taylor.
“The main thing was that the car came back in one piece because we’ve got some development work to do this week so that was really important.
“So we’ve got a couple of days testing now.”
After a strong debut for Taylor’s FK7 last time out at Brands Hatch, he was pleased to build on that with pole and a double podium this weekend.
“We just carried on the momentum from Brands – considering we hadn’t really done anything in the car before Brands – to have the pace we had was great. We’re now just building on that moving forward, and momentum really. We needed to get the monkey off our back.
“The championship needed someone else to win as well really, obviously Dan’s winning because he’s quick. He’s shown his pace in BTCC as well – winning at Croft – and I think that’s a great thing.
“If Dan can win in BTCC and we’re matching and beating Dan’s pace then it’s great. This year is a massive year of learning for us – as much as it would be great to win the championship – if Dan wasn’t here I wouldn’t be learning as much as I am now.
“We’re having to push ourselves in all the areas we can. Again, Dan’s done a great job, he always does.
“He’s a quick guy and doesn’t make mistakes. It’s just unfortunate that race one ended the way it did. But it’s a great result.”