Huddersfield-based Daniel Lloyd’s hopes of a strong start to his Blancpain Endurance Series campaign came undone at the weekend (11/12 April) after the Oman Racing Team squad suffered a series of unfortunate set-backs during the season opener in Monza.
Daniel and his team-mates, Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam and Omani-based Ahmad Al Harthy faced a tough challenge on the world-famous Autodromo Nationale circuit in the #44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 with a packed grid of 58 GT cars taking part in the three hour contest.
The 23 year old set the benchmark high on his debut on the challenging Italian circuit, posting ninth place overall and sixth in the Pro Cup class during his qualifying stint. Unfortunately his team-mate Adam was caught out by a red flag during the second session and the trio ended with a P20 combined position for the first round race.
“Not the weekend or the results that we wanted but we still have some really good positives to take away from it;” commented Daniel. “I had good pace in my test and I was really happy with my times on a circuit that I’d never been to before so that was great and something that we can build on for the next round at Silverstone where the Aston should be better suited.”
Taking the opening hour, Daniel showed impressive pace and race craft to push up through the packed field and the Oman Racing Team looked to be set for a strong top ten challenge as Daniel pitted in 11th position. Tragically a problem with the air jacks held Al Harthy in the pits for almost a full minute, dropping the #44 Aston back to the middle of the pack and all but ending the squad’s chances of claiming its first point scoring finish of the season.
“The start was terrifying and it can be a hard one to judge right but I did the right thing and managed to get up a couple of places round the 1st chicane;” Daniel continued. “I then had a really consistent stint with good pace and had a great battle with two factory Audi drivers for about 10 laps, managing to get past them both, it was just a massive shame about the pit stop incident which ruined our chances of claiming a decent result.”
Factory driver Adam pressed hard for the final hour of the race making up places before a late safety car incident brought the challenge to an end in the closing laps. Ultimately, following a difficult race, the Oman Racing Team Vantage claimed sixteenth in the Pro Cup class and P26 overall.
“Hopefully we’ll get a bit more luck at Silverstone next month. Monza was a mega circuit and I really enjoyed my first race there, unfortunately it just wasn’t our weekend.”
Despite a challenging start to his season, Daniel remains confident that his pace and the Aston’s potential can be further unlocked as the squad prepares for its next outing back in the UK when the Avon Tyres British GT Championship gets underway once more at Rockingham on 2/3 May.
Round two of the Blancpain Endurance Series returns for the only UK round on the calendar with another three hour race at the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ Silverstone on 23/24 May.