Daniel Lloyd Racing
LLOYD SHINES IN CROFT RAIN TO GO SECOND FASTEST IN OFFICIAL TESTING
West Yorkshire racing driver Daniel Lloyd produced an exceptional performance at Croft Circuit near Darlington on Friday, 31st October, by setting the second fastest time during official ELF Renault Clio Cup winter testing.
Running for the first time with the benefit of official timing alongside a number of drivers who are expected to be rivals when Daniel makes his full competitive category debut in 2009, he concluded Friday’s test with a time of 1m 37.419 seconds (78.52mph).
Placing the Scammonden 16-year-old just 0.018 seconds shy of experienced Irishman Aron Smith at the head of the times, his terrific performance on a drying track also saw him out-pace former Volkswagen Racing Cup Champion and established Clio Cup campaigner Philip House by almost half a second.
"Croft was really, really good and I was very happy with our pace in the last session on Friday", said Daniel, "It was wet all day as it kept raining on and off but later in the last session we were able to put some slick tyres on the front as it started to dry a bit.
"I was second fastest when everyone went into the pits to put some slicks on. We came in with about six minutes left and went back to second fastest again. The car was great and the team did a really good job. I'm getting more and more comfortable with the car every time we test, it's been absolutely mega."
Daniel's first run alongside a clutch of fellow ELF Renault Clio Cup competitors came during the unofficially timed first day of testing at Croft on Thursday, 30th October, where he produced a similarly strong run.
Lapping on old tyres, he set a best time of 1m 32.5 seconds which ended up just three 10ths of a second adrift of fellow Team Pyro driver Smith who, incidentally, was running with fresh rubber. When Daniel took new tyres it started to rain, so he was unable to benefit from the potential performance advantage.
He said: "To be just three 10ths off Aron's time on day one was great. It was really cold and then rained during the last session. I was quickest all the way through until Aron did a faster lap right at the end. That was my first experience of Croft in the wet so I was really pleased – to then go on and end the official day second fastest was fantastic."
Friday's outing also saw Daniel joined at Croft by a film crew from BBC Look North, the Yorkshire broadcaster set to feature the teenage star on its early evening news bulletin at some point this week – please visit www.daniellloydracing.com for precise details of when the piece will go to air.
Although not competing in the 2008 ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup itself due to budgetary restraints, Daniel will once again take part in the championship’s official test day at Rockingham International Super Sports Car Circuit in Northamptonshire this coming Friday, 7th November.
In Team Pyro related news, the aforementioned Aron Smith won both ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup races at Croft on Saturday, 1st November, and heads the driver standings going into this weekend's all-important finale.