Daniel Lloyd “over the moon” with stunning front row lap

Daniel Lloyd said he was “over the moon” with a stunning run to second place in qualifying at Oulton Park in just his second BTCC meeting with Eurotech Racing.

Rookie Lloyd improved his pace steadily throughout the day in his Honda Civic Type-R, before setting a time just 0.019 behind Team BMR’s Colin Turkington in the final stages of the 30-minute session.

Before Thruxton, the 24-year-old only had experience of one BTCC meeting, when he drove a Vauxhall Vectra for Triple Eight Racing at Croft in 2010.

Asked where his laptime had come from, Lloyd told TouringCarTimes: “I don’t know, to be honest! A mixture of getting used to the car and feeling comfortable with it, and hooking it all up.

“It’s such a big ask when you’re not used to these tyres to get the most out of them. I was on the back foot until the third set of tyres and it’s just a bit of trial and error.

“Suddenly something clicks and you get it right. I am over the moon.”

What made the display all the more impressive was the minimal amount of time the former GT and Blancpain racer has had to get used to the Civic.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system at Thruxton as it had been so long since I had been in a front-wheel drive car,” said Lloyd. It is one of those where you have a long time to think about it and process it. I am over the moon, I can’t believe it.”

Looking ahead to race day, Lloyd is confident of a good performance.

“We were good today on race pace. If anything qualifying was my weak point. So it’s all good!” he said.