LOYD HELPS TO RAISE ALMOST £50,000 DURING CHARITY KART RACEDaniel Lloyd helped raise almost £50,000 for charity at Birmingham’s NEC on Friday, 9th January, by taking part in the annual BP Ultimate Celebrity Kart Challenge – one of the headline events at the 2009 Autosport International Show.The 16-year-old, who will this season be competing in the British Touring Car Championship supporting ELF Renault Clio Cup series, contested the two-hour endurance kart spectacular as part of the ‘Racing4Richard’ team. Although the squad’s kart developed serious problems with a broken throttle cable, they still fought back to finish in a highly creditable ninth place.Lining up second on the grid for the start of the race, Daniel led the team’s charge during the first stint and performed brilliantly as he battled for second position with Le Mans 24 Hours legend Tom Kristensen. Winning out in the end in his dice with the eight time winner of the famous classic, Daniel actually took the lead of the race prior to the first round of pit-stops.Scottish Legends Cars Champion Carol Brown took over from Daniel during the first driver change but soon after the throttle cable snapped and the team – which also featured sportscar ace Johnny Mowlem, BTCC driver Michael Doyle and Neil Pearson, drummer from Scottish band Travis – lost a lot of ground having looked well on course for a podium finish.“It was very disappointing to drop out of contention, especially after I had enjoyed such a good opening stint”, commented the West Yorkshire teenager, “The main thing was to take part though and help raise as much as possible for charity. In total the event raised almost £50,000 which is absolutely fantastic. Hopefully next year we’ll have better luck on track!”The main charity benefitting from the funds raised is the Richard Burns Foundation which was set up in memory of the former World Rally Champion who lost his brave battle with brain cancer in late 2005. Daniel’s participation as part of the official ‘Racing4Richard’ team was all the more poignant as his father Neil recovered from a brain tumour nine years ago.Ahead of his first season in the high-profile ELF Renault Clio Cup, Daniel’s pre-season testing programme is expected to commence within the next few weeks.