Power Maxed Racing’s Dan Lloyd enjoyed another strong weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park, as he picked up his third podium finish of the season.
Lloyd went into the meeting on a high, having claimed a double podium in the previous round at Silverstone.
The Vauxhall driver steadily improved his pace in practice, having been 18th and 12th fastest respectively in Saturday’s two sessions, before making a major change in the car’s setup for qualifying.
That paid off for Lloyd, who found significantly improved pace, not only making it through to the top ten shootout but then qualifying on the front row of the grid, just 0.033 seconds from pole position.
With team-mate Jason Plato just behind in third, it also marked Power Maxed Racing’s best-ever qualifying session in the BTCC.
Race one saw Lloyd claim second, fighting for the win but ultimately not quite having the pace of winner Gordon Shedden.
With 66 kg of success ballast for race two, Lloyd slipped back at the start, and by mid-distance was running in fifth, which he managed to hold until the chequered flag.
Race three was a challenge for Lloyd, who was drawn to start seven on the reversed grid and then picked up a five-second time penalty for being out of position at the start.
Despite that, and with 39 kg of ballast, the 29-year-old held position and took the chequered flag in seventh, having enough pace to mean his penalty didn’t lose him a position in the end.
Lloyd was delighted with another strong weekend in the BTCC, remarking that since initially making his début in 2010 he has never had such a strong run of form in the championship.
“The weekend was a tale of two halves really,” said Lloyd. “We had such a tough start down in P18 with a lot of issues with the car in FP1.
“We were still wrestling with major issues again in FP2 and were four-tenths off Jason who was in P1. We changed a lot of stuff to the set-up for qualifying and really turned the day around.
“Managing to get into the top ten shootout and then onto the front-row was a massive achievement from where we started the day.
“We’ve just been chipping away at it and driving the car to its full potential. I was over the moon with a front row start in P2 and we’re on top of the car now, which feels great.
“Qualifying obviously put us in good stead for the races, and I was going for the win in race one. The tyres just dropped off too much after the safety car and Gordon had the pace on us in the second half.
“Race two was the first time that I’d ever driven with 66 kg in the car so to hold on to P5 was a mega result – I learnt a lot.
“To follow that up with a solid finish in P7 for race three with 39 kg on board was a great result for the team after how hard they’ve all worked.
“It’s amazing how quickly you get used to the podium! We’re on a roll now and enjoying a great run.
“We’ve had more podiums in the past three weeks than I have in ten years in the BTCC, so I’m mega happy with that.”