Dan Lloyd was left feeling frustrated after the second TCR UK series race at Oulton Park, where the WestCoast Racing driver was deemed to be at fault for a clash with Stewart Lines halfway through the race.
For the second time in as many meetings, Lloyd was handed points on his racing licence for an incident, which also cost him 15 points in his title campaign.
The clash came as Lloyd was seeking to get past Lines’ CUPRA to move into the final podium position, but the resultant contact both dropped Lines down to sixth and allowed Llloyd’s closest title rival, Ollie Taylor, to pass.
Combined with the handicap of carrying the maximum 60 kg of compensation weight, Lloyd felt frustrated with the day’s results, despite claiming second in the first race.
“It’s been a frustrating day with the weight, which has had a huge toll around here,” said Lloyd to TouringCars.Net. “It’s the worst place to carry it of all the circuits we go to.
“We’re seeing what the difference does in WTCR with 60 kg on the Golf, and it certainly suffered from that today, so to come out with P2 and some good points is a good result.
“In race two I struggled with the weight again. I followed Stewart Lines for a few laps and he put me onto the grass in some dangerous areas a few laps before [the incident].
“There were a couple of different areas through Cascades which I had to back out of otherwise it would have ended in tears – driving four wheels off the track everywhere, out of control. Then he comes into Cascades, I went for a gap and he shut the door and turned around.
“Taylor got in front of us which was a shame, but again I just struggled with the weight a lot. We didn’t have good pace at all. Then we’ve got a penalty for what happened, which isn’t good at all.”
Lloyd was particularly critical of the penalty system, which saw him lose points from his championship lead, which dropped to 78 points as a result.
“They put points on my licence. They times that by five and then they take it off your championship points.
“This idea of taking championship points off, multiplying it by five, is just bizarre if you ask me. It’s ridiculous – if you want to run a high-level championship then don’t put club-level rules into it.
“I feel like the penalty points I’ve had on my licence have been extremely unfair and extremely harsh, and they then amplify that with this rule where they take more.
“At the minute I’ve lost 30 championship points with two penalties that I don’t agree with, so it’s not good.”
When asked if the results and penalties impacted his and the team’s participation in the next round at Croft, Lloyd was unsure.
“At the rate this is going I don’t know what’s happening [for Croft].”