Huddersfield’s Daniel Lloyd remains positive ahead of his Monza debut in the Blancpain Endurance Series this weekend (11/12 April) following a frustrating start to his Avon Tyres British GT Championship campaign at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend (4-6 April).
Despite unavoidable race contact in both of Monday’s one hour races after two on track incidents damaged his chances of a strong opening to the 2015 season, Daniel and his team-mate Ahmad Al Harthy managed to salvage a points scoring top 10 finish in the Motorbase-run #2 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
“It’s been a tough weekend;” commented Daniel. “Because of our silver/silver driver pairing we’ve had 55kg of weight and a small restrictor added to the car and that’s hindered us a lot more than anyone expected.
Daniel added; “So in qualifying we were really struggling with straight line speed which it showed on the data. Unfortunately this meant we were on a back foot from the start.”
Daniel and Ahmad battled their way through a busy safety-car packed opening race building on their sixth position start to move the #2 Vantage up into P4 during Al Harthy’s opening stint. Unfortunately, just before the pit stop window opened the Vantage was hit and spun by a rival Aston Martin, causing a puncture and damage to the car. In spite of the team’s best efforts to get the car back out on track, Daniel then found himself trapped behind the safety car hindering his race progress and the 23 year old did well to salvage a top 10 finish.
“We were doing really well in the first race;” said Daniel. “Ahmad got up to 4th but unfortunately one of the back markers got in the way and caused a collision which spun us around. This caused damage and forced us to pit and then we got stuck behind the safety car, so we couldn’t get back onto the back of the pack to make up the places.”
Monday’s second one hour race was unable to deliver a better result for the Motorbase duo. With straight line speed once again causing an issue, Daniel had managed to work his way up into eighth position in the opening stint before handing over to Al Harthy at the mid-way point. Regrettably, the Oman based driver was once again caught up in another drivers’ on track error with the #2 Vantage suffering substantial damage forcing it into early retirement from the race.
“The second race really tough because of the restrictor and the weight, but the car was really strong and I was happy with my stint and we had a really good pit stop. Ahmad went out and unfortunately another GT3 car judged a pass wrong and he got caught in the middle of it again through no fault of his own. Ahmad drove really well and I think without that incident we would have been in good shape.
Daniel concluded; “It’s not the start that we wanted but the car is strong and the team is good, we’ve just got to try and play catch up at Rockingham.”
“On the plus side, it was nice to have all of the sponsors here this weekend;” Daniel added. “It was a great day; they all enjoyed looking around the car for the first time. Unfortunately the results weren’t what we would have liked to give them.”
The British GT Championship now has a four week break before reconvening at Rockingham on 2/3 May. However, it’s straight back into the Motorbase-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Daniel, Al Harthy and their European team-mate Jonny Adam as the Oman Racing Team head to Monza for this weekend’s (11/12 April) opening round of the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series.
A bumper 24 Pro Cup grid is entered for the 3 hour opening race on Italy’s iconic Monza circuit and Daniel and his Oman Racing team-mates are fired up for the tough challenge ahead and the chance to compete against Europe’s top seeded drivers and teams.
“This weekend will be the first time that me, Ahmad and Jonny will have raced together and I’m really looking forward to it;” said Daniel. “We all get on really well and the moral in the team is good. It’s a level playing field for us in the Blancpain although it’s going to be tough as we’re up against the factory teams but we’re up for the challenge and looking forward to getting stuck in.
“Monza’s not a track that the Aston is incredibly strong at but we’re looking for some consistency, a good result and strong start to the season.”