BOLD PODIUM BID COMES UNSTUCK FOR LLOYD AT SILVERSTONEDaniel Lloyd saw an outstanding race drive at Silverstone National Circuit yesterday afternoon, Saturday, 30th August, ended prematurely after contact from rival Dominic Pettit saw an almost certain rostrum finish turn to dust.Although not quite hooking up a lap he was happy with during the morning’s 15-minute qualifying session, Scammonden based Daniel wasn’t perturbed by starting a relatively low ninth on the grid and knew he had the pace to come through the field during the 19th round to challenge for a potential podium.Having climbed from ninth into fifth place on the opening lap alone, the 16-year-old car racing rookie continued to make terrific progress – first with a tremendous pass around the outside of Aaron Williamson at Becketts on lap five to take fourth place and then, two laps later, he moved into second at Brooklands by overtaking two cars in one move!Heading into the complex behind George Richardson and Pettit on the seventh tour, Daniel serenely moved up the inside to pass both cars and although on the outside for the next turn, Luffield, the Tockwith Motorsport driver looked set to hold second position.Unfortunately though, contact from Pettit up the inside pitched Daniel into a spin into the gravel trap on the outside of Luffield. Forcing an immediate retirement, the incident also cost the West Yorkshire racer the chance of closing down third placed Josh Hill in the title battle – Hill having crashed out himself on the first lap of the race.Speaking on round 19, Daniel said: “I made a good start, (Simon) Austin blocked the inside so I had to go around the outside as I had such a good run on him. At the same time, Alice (Powell) was on the other side of me so I was boxed in between the two but I managed to get past them both through the first corner.“There was a bit of chaos at the second corner but thankfully I got through everything ok in about fifth place. A few laps later I was behind (Aaron) Williamson and as we went into the second corner he tried to slow me up but I went around the outside of him – it was a fantastic move!“Then, I hunted Pettit and Richardson down. They had a bit of a scrap, I passed them both into Brooklands on lap seven but then into Luffield I was in second place on the outside of Pettit but he hit me and I ended up in the gravel. That was the end of it!”He added: “It was really disappointing for the race to end up like that, to come through from ninth on the grid to second was fantastic and with Josh (Hill) not finishing the race we could have made up some good ground on him in the championship. We proved our pace though so hopefully tomorrow we’ll come through and fight for the podium again.”Arriving at Silverstone carrying a hand injury, which was sustained when playing football last weekend, there was some concern whether the damage to Daniel’s metacarpal bone would cause problems in relation to his pace and race performance. Clearly, after an excellent drive, any such fears have been fully allayed. For round 20 of the 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship today, Sunday, 31st August, Daniel will start the race – which will be televised live on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4 – from seventh position on the grid. The 11-lap race will get underway at around 14.45.Provisional 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after Rd19):1st Dino Zamparelli, 491pts; 2nd Thomas Carnaby, 467pts; 4th Daniel Lloyd, 327pts