Daniel Lloyd produced arguably the best performance of his young career at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany, Saturday, 18th June, by racing through superbly from fifth on the grid to claim his maiden victory in the all-action Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup.Only four rounds in to his first season of European-level competition, the 19-year-old from Huddersfield delivered a memorable drive in a race regarded throughout the paddock as the best of the year so far and, quite possibly, the best in the history of the championship.Offering impossibly close action lap after lap, with continual position changes, the fight for the lead boiled down to a three-car battle involving Daniel, Poland's Mateusz Lisowski - the series leader - and American driver James Mobley.
In the end, Daniel judged everything perfectly to pull clear over the final couple of laps to win by an impressive 1.4 seconds. In addition, he also posted the fastest lap of the race and the result has also seen the talented Briton rocket up the driver standings from eighth place into the top three - only a single point shy of second position."That was a mega race!", said Daniel, "So much happened and the racing was absolutely fantastic, everyone was saying it's the best Scirocco race they've seen. After everything going wrong for us in Austria it's so good to hit back with my first win. It really is the best race I've ever driven, unbelievable! Plus, it's a perfect present for my dad, Neil, as it was his birthday on Friday - thanks to him as always."Qualifying fifth fastest during this morning's session with a time of 1m37.733 seconds, just 0.3 seconds shy of pole position, Daniel didn't get away from the grid as cleanly as he wanted due to wheelspin but out of the first corner he emerged in fourth place before grabbing third later in the lap.Up to second place on lap two, he closed on pole-sitter Mobley and after getting alongside at the end of the seventh tour Daniel took the lead. Lisowski came through to second past Mobley and their fight did afford Daniel some breathing space but on lap 12 Lisowski had caught up and he moved ahead.With just two of his allocated 'push-to-pass' boosts remaining, Daniel knew he had to utilise them wisely and this he did. Retaking the lead a lap later, he built a cushion of almost 1.5 seconds over the final couple of laps to seal a memorable and richly deserved maiden win.Daniel commented: "I got too much wheelspin at the start and a couple of cars started to move past me so I decided to go around the outside and although I did end up on the grass, I came out of the first corner in fourth.
"I used quite a bit of boost on the first lap but from there I was able to catch up with JD (Mobley) and then Mateusz (Lisowski) closed in as well. We had a fantastic scrap, I really enjoyed every minute, and it's great to have come out on top. We knew we had the pace to do this from the start of the year, it's a mega feeling to have taken my first win."Replays of this weekend's VW Scirocco R-Cup action at EuroSpeedway Lausitz will be screened throughout the coming week on digital satellite and cable channel Motors TV - please check listings for further details.
Provisional 2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Driver Standings (after Rd4):1st Mateusz Lisowski, 148pts; 2nd James Mobley, 120pts; 3rd Daniel Lloyd, 119pts
