Huddersfield’s Daniel Lloyd celebrated his first race win of the year during this weekend’s Avon Tyres British GT Championship season finale at Donington Park with a stunning drive in his Academy Motorsport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (September 12-13).
Making his debut in the #62 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4, Lloyd delivered a superb drive during Sunday’s frenetic two hour finale; charging through the field to steal the race lead from the Academy Motorsport sister Vantage of Strandberg with just five minutes remaining on the clock.
Qualifying 11th in class from their combined times, Lloyd and his Academy Motorsport team-mate Chris Webster had a huge task ahead of the them in the highly competitive GT4 field and challenging for the lead seemed a long way off for the pair as they headed in the final round.
“Overall I think we did a good job;” said Lloyd. “Testing was all wet unfortunately, so I didn’t really get any time in the car in the dry. By the time we went into qualifying it had dried up so it meant I went into the session a little bit blind which wasn’t ideal.”
“I was half a second off pole and the joint second Aston and I knew there was more to get from the car in the race, but starting in 11th we didn’t really expect to be challenging for the race lead to be honest!”
Webster took the opening stint in the Vantage GT4 and had managed to work his way up into 5th by the mid-way point of the race before handing over to Lloyd. A solid pit stop by the Academy Motorsport crew saw Lloyd re-join in fifth and the Yorkshire-man immediately set to work on closing in on the leading pack.
As the laps unfolded Lloyd’s impressive pace paid off as he systematically picked his way up through the field and as the race entered the final 15 minutes, he moved into second position and found the back of the leading #61 Aston Martin. An epic battle ensued as the Academy Motorsport Vantage’s fought for the race lead before a superb move from Lloyd at The Loop saw the 23 year-old charge through to claim his maiden win of the season with an incredible six second lead.
“Chris did a good job at the start of the race which put us into a fighting position. He managed to put in some good times and stay out of trouble which wasn’t easy in that race!” added Lloyd. “The Academy crew did a great job on the pit-stop and we managed re-joined the race in 5th position which was great, but we were miles behind everyone else so I just got my head down and kept going.
Lloyd continued; “We had really good pace in the car so I was mindful of looking after the tyres as well. With about 15 minutes or so left to go the team came over the radio to let me know I was in P2 but Strandberg was about 11 or 12 seconds ahead of me so I just pushed as hard as I could. He made a small mistake which allowed me to get onto the back of him and then once I caught up it was quite a battle for the lead! A GT3 got in the mix a little to add some drama and I capitalised on that to take the race lead.”
“It was my first time in the GT4 car so I’m over the moon to take a win, and also really pleased for the team as it was their first win as well. We wanted to give our sponsors a good day and it was absolutely mega, better than we thought it would be and a great way to end my British GT season. I’d also like to say a big thanks to the Academy Motorsport crew; they provided me with a really good car and set up and it showed in the race.”
Lloyd’s superb race win signs off his 2015 British GT season in fine style and the 23 year-old now has a short break before heading to China for his second competitive outing in the Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin GT3 for rounds 8 & 9 of the GT Asia Series in Shanghai on September 25-27.