Dan Lloyd has praised WestCoast Racing’s decision-making after the Swedish equipe secured a vital 1-2-3 for the penultimate TCR UK Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park.
That result – and the 11 points bagged by championship leader Lloyd for pole – means the British Touring Car Championship race-winner needs just a 6-point swing in the opening contest to be crowned the series’ inaugural Champion.
That scenario got even better, with chief title rival Ollie Taylor stuck in fourth behind Andreas and Jessica Backman, with the Pyro Motorsport racer needing an impressive result to take the fight to the wire tomorrow.
Wet weather is expected, however, and could throw a late spanner in the works.
“It’s a great start to the weekend, I couldn’t have asked for any better,” Lloyd told TouringCars.net.
“It feels like that’s a good bit of the battle done. I’m really happy for Andreas and Jessica, I’ve been helping them all year so it’s nice to see.
“WestCoast Racing did a mega job today to get such a strong result. You’ve got to keep in the back of your head what’s going on with the championship.
“The main focus is to get off the line well, I think we’ll have good pace in the wet. When it’s been wet previously, we’ve had pace, so I’m confident with that.”
At points in 2018, drivers and teams have attempted to take advantage of the reverse-grid regulations to gain a double pole position, setting two laps – a flyer and a slightly slower attempt – in order to get the best second-fastest time.
Lloyd admitted, after lengthy discussions, on this occasion with the title at stake, the team collectively elected to run their session in a more conventional manner.
“We discussed that at length for a long time and weighed up all the positives, negatives and what it could be bring,” admitted Lloyd.
“We made the right decision, I think it’s the safer one in this instance so it played quite well.
“It was a tough session – Andreas did well, he was only three tenths behind me, so although it was great having him there, I needed to keep him behind me. I think as a team we made some really good decisions.”
The opening race at the 1.97 mile East Midlands circuit is scheduled to get underway at 13:15 BST.