An impressive debut performance by Daniel Lloyd during round 7 of the GT Asia Series this weekend netted the Huddersfield-based driver a maiden podium on the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia (September 4-6).

Lloyd, who joined the Craft Bamboo Racing team for the first time on Wednesday, headed straight to the International circuit for practise sessions in the #99 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. Following two superb qualifying performances from the 23 year-old and new team-mate Darryl O’Young, the squad’s efforts were justly rewarded with a combined pole position in Saturday’s inaugural three hour contest.

“With the deal being agreed so close to the round I only managed to get into the car for the first time on Wednesday after a 20 hour trip;” explained Lloyd. “It was literally 2 hours from landing to getting into the car so the heat was difficult on the first day but I managed to get a few laps in.

“I worked really hard in practice all week and the Craft-Bamboo Racing team did a really good job and helped me get up to speed in the car, so by the time we got to qualifying I was on the pace;” he added. “I was over 9 tenths quicker than the closest car in my qualifying session and with Darryl’s time that got us combined pole for the race which was a brilliant start to the weekend.”

O’Young took the opening stint for Saturday’s race and delivered a great drive to keep the #99 Aston out in front as the laps unfolded. As the race progressed, tyre degradation closed the car’s lead and the Vantage dropped back into P2 as the crew prepared for the driver changeover.

With a nine second penalty in place for the team’s success in Fuji, Lloyd re-joined the race in fourth and immediately set his sights on closing down the race leaders. A dramatic change in weather conditions brought torrential rain to the Malaysian circuit and following a resulting crash the team took the opportunity to change to wet tyres whilst under the safety car. Despite an excellent pit-stop by the Craft-Bamboo crew, Lloyd was held up by a back marker on his exit from the pit lane resulting in a costly delay of about 45 seconds which effectively ruled the Vantage out of race winning contention.

“Darryl did really well in his opening stint in the dry and held the lead for about 40 minutes before changing over. We went out on slicks and had a great run and then all of a sudden the heavens opened;” continued Lloyd.  “We made the right call to pit and change to wets whilst the safety car was out but then I got stuck behind the Porsche GTM car for so long that we were just playing catch up for the rest of the race.”

Lloyd battled back hard from the delay with an intense comeback drive in difficult racing conditions and managed to hand over to O’Young in P3 for the driver’s second stint. O’Young enjoyed a great race with championship rival Sawa before handing back to Lloyd for the final push as the three hour race entered the closing stages and the Yorkshire-man immediately chased down the race leaders to take third from the Ferrari before setting his sights on the second place spot. A dramatic end to the race saw Lloyd make a final charge in the Aston closing in on the Bentley ahead, narrowly missing out on a second place finish to cross the line just 0.3 seconds behind.

“The weather kept changing during the race but we kept our heads down and battled on then for the final stint. We were 45 seconds behind the race leader and we managed to get that gap down to about 5 seconds. I managed to get past the Ferrari to get into third and the Bentley was about 15 seconds in front of me as we headed into the final 6 laps. I was right on his bumper, just 3 tenths off as we crossed the line – one more lap and we would have taken him!”

The weekend’s results mean that the Craft Bamboo Racing team stay in strong championship contention as the GT Asia series enters the closing stages. The championship also returns to the one hour sprint format for rounds 8 and 9 in Shanghai, China on September 25-27.

“We were a bit disappointed on the day because we deserved a better result;” concluded Lloyd.  “We’re still in the championship fight though; Darryl is now just four points behind the lead so we’re feeling confident for the rest of the season.

“I’d like to say a massive thank you to the whole Craft Bamboo team for making me feel so welcome and comfortable in the car and for a great job over the whole week. It was such a good decision to go out and compete in the GT Asia Series and I owe a lot to my sponsors for helping me once again.

“I can’t wait to get back into the car in China in a couple of weeks’ time!”