Daniel Lloyd kicked-off his TCR Europe campaign in perfect style with a commanding victory for the Brutal Fish Racing Team during the series’ season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard that propelled him to the top of the Championship standings.
Coming off the back of a strong maiden season in 2019, Lloyd has stated his intent on challenging for the title with the Slovakia-based Brutal Fish Racing squad with an authoritative performance in the #123 Honda Civic Type R.
Initially struggling for pace in the free practice sessions, Lloyd and the Brutal Fish crew made major changes to the Type R which paid-off in qualifying, with the Yorkshireman claiming a second-row start in P3 – a tenth off pole, and just ahead of Honda factory driver Néstor Girolami.
A perfect charge off the start-line in race 1 saw Lloyd snatch the race lead by the first corner. Defending against Fillipi and Bennani for the opening laps, the ABRACS-backed racer controlled the race perfectly to claim his maiden win of the season in superb style.
With his eye on the championship lead, Lloyd played a long-game in race 2. Starting from P8, he safely piloted the Honda up to P6 at the flag to secure another solid haul of points for his championship challenge.
“We had a bit of a tough day testing on Friday so we put a lot of work in before qualifying. So to grab P3 was a great result.”
“I got a perfect start off the line to get into the lead in race 1. I had to defend for a couple of laps after that. Then it was just a case of managing the gap and pushing to the end. It was a very emotional win after a tough year. All credit and thanks to the Brutal Fish crew for giving me the car to get the job done.
“After such a strong start it just put me in a completely different mindset to last year. I had to keep the championship in mind. Going into race 2 I knew that I needed to focus on the points and not take too many risks.
“I expected a strong start to the season, but maybe not quite as strong as that. It was a great way to kick-off our season with the first win, and to come away leading the championship is mega. It’s a huge confidence boost going into the next round at Zolder.”
“It’s been a really tough start to the year for sponsorship with the impact of COVID-19. We’re still looking for support this season, so hopefully, my performance at the weekend will help to attract some new partners or interest.”
Lloyd and the Brutal Fish Racing Team travel to Belgium next looking to extend the championship lead, for rounds 3 & 4 of the TCR Europe Series on the legendary Zolder circuit on September 12-13.
