Dan Lloyd expects to make progress in the opening TCR Europe race at Hockenheim from eighth on the grid after a mistake in qualifying hampered his effort to take pole position.
Lloyd – reigning TCR UK champion and British Touring Car Championship race-winner in 2018 – topped the timesheets in the first part of qualifying with a late effort in the Brutal Fish-run Honda Civic Type R.
A mistake in the pole position shootout left him on the fourth row alongside the WRT Audi of Santiago Urrutia, but Lloyd still expects to move forward in the opening contest.
“I think we have the pace on quite a few cars in front, so it’s just a case of head down, get a good start and we’ll go from there,” said Lloyd to TouringCars.net in Hockenheim.
“It was good but I’m frustrated with myself because I made mistakes in Q2.
“I really felt I had the pace for pole then, which I showed in Q1. I know there was room for improvement in Q2, so like I said I’m frustrated with myself, but overall for the position we’re in for the weekend, it’s a great result for tomorrow’s race with P3, it’s good for the BoP [Balance of Performance] in the future, which I have to think about.
“I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in and considering we’ve got the extra 20 kilos as well, I think we’re still strong.”
Tyre and brake wear is set to potentially play a role in deciding the outcome of this afternoons contest, with hot temperatures at the 2.8-mile Baden-Wurttemberg circuit, plus Lloyd’s 20kg penalty for being a late entry to the series, hardly helping the matter.
He will be helped, however, by only running one set of tyres in Q2, whilst some ahead pitted for a fresh set and completed two runs.
“It’s not on your mind, you just deal with what you have, but it definitely makes a difference, especially a circuit like this where you have such heavy stopping areas, accelerating from first gear onwards so it definitely makes a difference.” explained Lloyd.
The first race of the weekend in Germany is scheduled to start at 13:40 BST.