Ollie Taylor ends Dan Lloyd’s pole run at Castle Combe

Dan Lloyd saw his astonishing run of success in the TCR UK Championship come to an end after Ollie Taylor secured pole position for the fourth round of the season at Castle Combe.

Having topped both the warm-up and free practice sessions, WestCoast Racing ace Lloyd looked to be in a class of his own during a truncated qualifying session, but hadn’t bargained on a fine late lap from Taylor that allowed him to steal pole by the slenderest of margins.

It makes the Pyro Motorsport man only the second driver to take pole, with Lloyd having previously qualified at the head of the field at Silverstone, Knockhill and Brands Hatch.

Lloyd’s team-mate Andreas Bäckman had been the early pace-setter in the session as drivers hit the track to complete their first timed laps, going slightly quicker than the Honda of Ollie Taylor – albeit with a lap noticeably slower than the best seen in free practice.

Points leader Lloyd – winner of every race so far this season – hadn’t set a time in the opening ten minutes and had just hit the track when the red flag was thrown after Darelle Wilson clipped a tyre stack Bobbies and went off into the corn on the infield.

The session resumed with 19 minutes left to run, with Jessica Bäckman the first to make a noticeable improvement as she jumped into top spot only for Taylor to then become the first driver to break the 1min 08s marker to put his Pyro Motorsport-run Honda onto provisional pole.

However, with little more than twelve minutes left to run, Lloyd finally put his first timed lap on the board and immediately went more than seven tenths of a second quicker than anyone else.

That time looked like being more than good enough for pole but when the field headed out for their final laps, Taylor was able to put together a lap just 0.003s quicker to earn his place at the head of the field.

Although he tried to react, Lloyd was left to settle for second spot, with Bäckman ending up in third spot, sharing the second row of the grid with sister Jessica who was the final driver to lap within a second of pole.

It means all three Volkswagens qualified inside the top four despite running maximum compensation weight for the first time this weekend.

Having endured a troubled weekend to date after a series of issues on his Hyundai, Lewis Kent was fifth quickest ahead of Finlay Crocker in his Honda, with the two Cupras of Carl Swift and Stewart Lines then sharing the fourth row of the grid.

Derek Palmer was ninth in the only Alfa Romeo to set a time during the session as Robert Gilmour’s woes continued, with Wilson’s off leaving him down in tenth place on the grid.