Daniel Lloyd made an outstanding start to his first ever race weekend in the ELF Renault Clio Cup during pre-event testing at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Friday, 3rd April, by posting the sixth fastest time during the afternoon session.

The 17-year-old category newcomer, who competes this year with reigning champion squad Team Pyro, started today’s outing well with a best lap of 52.873 seconds (81.61mph) placing him a fraction outside his target top 10 and just half a second shy of the outright pace.

During the second session, however, the Scammonden based racer leapt into the top six with a similarly strong time of 52.898 seconds (81.57mph), a mere four 10ths of a second shy of the quickest time of the afternoon set by highly experienced team-mate Philip Glew.

While Daniel feels there is more potential to come from both him and the car over the course of the season-opening race weekend at Brands Hatch, to end this afternoon’s run just 0.012 seconds away from fifth place is an indication of the progress he has made.

“We’re really pleased with how today has gone, it’s been a great start to the weekend but tomorrow is when it all counts with qualifying and the first race of the season”, said the teenage star, “There’s definitely more to come but if we can achieve a couple of top 10 results I’ll be very happy.  If we can do the same as we did this afternoon and qualify in the top six though, I’ll be over the moon!”

Daniel’s first ever ELF Renault Clio Cup qualifying session will begin at 11.15 in the morning, Saturday, 4th April, with the opening race of the season expected to follow at 16.30. Round two is timetabled for 13.35 on Sunday, 5th April, and is set to be screened live on Freeview (channel 28), cable (channel 117) and digital satellite (channel 120) station ITV4. Check listings for up-to-date details.