Ginetta junior - Lloyd finishes 5th

West Yorkshire’s Daniel Lloyd concluded his maiden car racing season fifth overall in the driver standings at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit this afternoon, Sunday, 21st September, after claiming a top six finish during the last race of the 2008 Ginetta Junior season.The 16-year-old, who is the only rookie in the championship to have taken a race victory this year, looked on course to double-up with his second podium finish of the weekend during today’s encounter but he had to settle for sixth position in the end at the wheel of his British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship Winner car.Nonetheless, the Scammonden based racer ends the campaign having visited the top step of the podium three times, taking two other rostrum finishes along the way and with the knowledge he has produced a number of outstanding performances during the year.“Saturday was a good day, it was great to be back on the podium but I really wanted to have another top three finish today”, commented Daniel, “It would have been a nice way to end the weekend and the season but it wasn’t to be unfortunately.“Obviously this weekend marks my last ever race in Ginetta Junior so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Richard Dean at Ginetta Cars, Simon Moore at Tockwith Motorsport and Carolynn Hoy of the Stars of Tomorrow Championship. It’s been a good season for me, I’ve learned a lot and it’s been invaluable for my racing career.”Starting round 24 from fourth on the grid, Daniel didn’t get away from the line as well as he would have liked and on the run through Paddock Hill Bend he lost out to a fast-starting George Richardson to slip to fifth position. At Druids Hairpin, he then dropped behind Josh Hill into sixth place.Through Clearways at the end of lap four, Daniel moved to the inside of Hill and managed to get ahead before then setting the fastest lap of the race on lap five with a time of 58.705 seconds – in the end, the Tockwith Motorsport racer concluded the encounter with the third fastest lap overall.Pressuring fourth placed Alice Powell while also coming under pressure himself from eventual champion Dino Zamparelli, Daniel ran strongly at mid-distance and with the pack tightly bunched a podium finish was certainly not an unrealistic prospect.On lap eight though, as Daniel attempted to make the most of a mistake by Powell out of Paddock Hill Bend, so did Zamparelli who held the inside line up to Druids. As the trio rounded the corner, Daniel was forced wide to slip back to sixth place. Trying ultra-hard to make the lost ground back up, he moved into fifth on lap 10 at Druids past Powell.Pushing on, Daniel then had a moment at Graham Hill Bend on lap 11 which saw him run very wide onto the grass and the loss of traction saw him lose a couple of places to drop back into seventh position. He did, however, gain one spot back again following a spin by Richardson on the penultimate tour.

“Everything went wrong for me at the start of the race really”, said Daniel, “I didn’t get away from the line very well as the red lights were on for a long time and then I got hung out to dry around the first corner. I got myself together after that, passed Josh (Hill) and was then behind Alice (Powell) who isn’t the easiest person to overtake!“I got stuck behind Alice for quite a while but then she made a mistake at the first corner so I tried to go around the outside up to the hairpin but with Dino (Zamparelli) on the inside, he held the line on the exit and I had no option but to run wide. Then I ran wide at Graham Hill Bend a bit later on too which lost me a couple of places.”Final 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions:Champion: Dino Zamparelli, 611pts; 2nd Tom Carnaby, 595pts, 5th Daniel Lloyd, 403pts


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