Lloyd Impresses At Zolder To Open New Opportunities‏

Sportscar racer Daniel Lloyd made a welcome return to competitive action in the Menzo 24 Hours of Zolder last weekend, 30th/31st August, where the 22-year-old Briton achieved a class podium as part of the Racer Industries team on his debut at the Belgian track.Agreeing an eleventh hour deal over the telephone to join the Australian squad only two days before the event, the Huddersfield driver had no time to prepare for the his second twice-round-the-clock race in just a five week period but delivered a very impressive performance.Piloting a 5.0-litre, 540bhp V8 MARC Ford Focus GTC, Daniel teamed-up with two-time British Touring Car Championship Independents Cup winner James Kaye, Dutch racing driver Kevin Veltman and Papua New Guinean racer Keith Kassulke for the challenging 24 Hour contest.Despite a major gearbox problem roughly halfway through the race while running in fourth place overall, the quartet battled back from the thick end of an hour and a half in the pit garage to climb from 38th position into 16th place, and third in the S1 Class for Silhouette Pro Evo cars.“We only did the deal over the phone last Wednesday, then it was out to Zolder for the test the next morning – everything was very last minute”, explained Daniel, “The first time I saw the car or the circuit was last Thursday, I’d never been to Zolder before, so I was really happy to qualify in P8 ahead of our team-mates in the other two Racer Industries cars.“We did really well in the race, got up to fourth and I did a three-hour stint between 10pm and 1am, we were fifth when I pitted. Then, at about 3am, were we fourth and catching third place when the gearbox broke – the prop-shaft snapped, it was just one of those things. The car was in the garage for about an hour and 20 minutes so we dropped from fourth to 38th, but got back to 16th.He added: “The team was really impressed with my performances and the pace we showed, so I’m made up about that. It was a mega experience and it’s hopefully opened the door to some more 24 Hour race opportunities in the near future.”Daniel is no longer competing in the Blancpain Sprint Series and is currently working on several options for his next track outing, with a number of possibilities under discussion.


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