by Ian Fitzell
ROUND four of the fledgling TCR UK championship at Castle Combe saw runaway leader Daniel Lloyd further extend his grip on the series.
WestCoast Racing’s Lloyd took his seventh TCR UK victory of the season, ahead of Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor.
TCR UK has joined the rapidly expanding network of series around the world and Lloyd praised its arrival on the British motorsport scene.
“It’s been a great year so far – first year for the TCR UK championship, so everything is new to the championship. It’s growing; more interest is being shown. It’s been perfect so far.”
In race one, Lloyd came from behind and thought he had taken the win with forceful driving on the last lap, passing Taylor.
But following the race, Lloyd received a one second penalty from the stewards allowing Taylor to take the top spot on the podium, with Lloyd’s teammate Andreas Bäckman in third.
The loss broke Lloyd’s perfect win record in the championship and secured Taylor his first victory in the Yokohama-backed TCR UK series.
Normal service resumed in race two when Lloyd pulled out a huge race lead, only for the safety car to be deployed following contact between Stewart Lines and Swedish racer Jessica Bäckman.
It was their second incident of the meeting after coming together in race one, with Lines driving up the inside on the final corner of the lap taking both cars heavily into the tyre wall and the drivers to the medical centre for assessment. Lines also received four penalty points for the incident.
Lloyd went on to win the race ahead of Taylor in second, with Carl Swift of Endurance Financial Racing coming in third.
The 26-year-old Yorkshireman’s success in race two means he maintains his healthy lead in the standings, despite carrying the maximum 60 kg of compensation weight or ‘success ballast’, devised to penalise dominant participants and to make touring cars more exciting.
The series now travels to Oulton Park for the next round on August 4, with a lot to do for the rest of the field if Lloyd and his WestCoast team are to be caught.
Having a great day at @CastleCombeUK courtesy of Mark James and @TCRUK_series Fantastic and dramatic first race which the fans loved. All the teams and drivers have been abs fantastic with @Robert94_USW and myself from @SportsJournoUSW what a great series pic.twitter.com/OgHduuVWt0
— Ian Fitzell (@Fitzyboy) 15 July 2018
Current Driver standings 15/8/2018
Daniel Lloyd 342 pt.
Oliver Taylor 260 pt.
Andreas Bäckman 206 pt.
Jessica Bäckman 156 pt.
Lewis Kent 150 pt.
Carl Swift 98 pt.
Howard Fuller 95 pt.
Darelle Wilson 93 pt.
Josh Price 89 pt.
Derek Palmer jr. 68 pt
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