Daniel Lloyd Seeks Daytona Drive After Petit Le Mans Debut‏

Aspiring professional racing driver Daniel Lloyd had a positive outing on his maiden appearance in the high-profile Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta in America over the weekend, 4th/5th October, and is now eyeing participation in January’s world-famous Daytona 24 Hours.Joining the Muehlner Motorsports America team after agreeing an eleventh hour deal a few days before the event, the final round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship didn’t end as planned unfortunately due to fuel pressure problems for the squad’s Porsche 911 GT-America.Having been forced to spend roughly a third of the race in the pits as the mechanics worked tirelessly to try and resolve the issue, Daniel and team-mates Mark Kvamme and Larry Pegram ultimately ended the 10 hour contest 15th in the GT Daytona class. While disappointed with the outcome, the Huddersfield 22-year-old was still delighted with his pace on his Petit Le Mans debut.“The result was disappointing but I picked up some huge experience and it was great to work with Bernhard at Muehlner Motorsports America”, commented Daniel, “I’d like to say a huge thank you to the mechanics too for getting the car back out so we could finish, the speed they worked at and the professionalism they showed was incredible.“Even though we were in the pits for over three hours, they didn’t slow down at any point and kept pushing on so we could at least take the chequered flag. It was a fantastic effort by them, a real credit to the team as a whole. My main focus now is to try and get a drive for the Daytona 24 Hours in January, there are a lot of Porsche seats out there – I’m working really hard to sort something.”Kvamme began the race in the No.19 Porsche with Pegram taking the second stint, Daniel then had his first race run about three hours into the contest. Running near the rear of the GTD class when he joined the track, the double Porsche Carrera Cup GB Scholar delivered a superb stint and pulled a lap back on the field with pace matching the leaders.Handing the car over to Kvamme at the end of his first run, all was going smoothly when low fuel pressure began to hamper the pace of the Porsche. After more than three hours in the pits, which obviously ruined any hopes of a decent result, Daniel was able to return to the track for the last five minutes – albeit at significantly reduced speed – to actually post a race finish.“The guys in the pits really did work hard to try and sort the fuel pressure problem but it couldn’t be properly fixed”, explained the Briton, “We did manage to get back out, but I had to crawl round at about 70mph while people were flying past me in the pitch black – it was certainly the longest three laps of my life but I managed to keep out of everyone’s way and take the flag.“Although it's only 2.4 miles long, Road Atlanta is extremely tricky because of the huge undulations and blind corners – it makes Brands Hatch look easy! Overall, it was a good experience and I want to say a huge thank you to my sponsors for letting me take the opportunity to race in the Petit Le Mans for the first time.”


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