Ollie Taylor gains ground after sterling drive in Oulton Park Race 2

Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor heads to the next round of the TCR UK championship 93 points behind Dan Lloyd in the standings, making his way from eighth to second in Race 2 to score critical points.

Taylor had looked set to form part of a Pyro Motorsport 1-2 in Race 1 behind team-mate Ash Sutton after the start after launching past Lloyd, but the race was reset after a second lap crash and red flag, with Taylor picking up a jump start penalty for his second attempt which dropped him to eighth in the final order.

For the reversed grid second race, Taylor worked his way forwards following Lloyd’s WestCoast Volkswagen, before capitalising on the fight between Lloyd and Maximum Motorsport’s Stewart Lines on lap seven, taking third place from Lloyd and then applying pressure on the Hyundai of Lewis Kent to take second at the line.

“Race 1 was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow to get the jump start penalty, to finish P7 in Race 1 isn’t representative of the pace we have,” said Taylor to TouringCarTimes. “However, if you had said at the start of Race 2 I’d finish P2 from where we started on the grid, I’d have a laughed at you, especially around here.”

On the move on Lloyd, Taylor was proud of the pass on his chief title rival.

“When I saw that Dan and Stewart were getting a bit feisty, I knew Dan wasn’t going to bow down, and Stewart wasn’t going to give in. I just had to keep my foot in and stayed at 100% and managed to get alongside Dan; he made it hard for me but I trusted his judgment, as at this speed I knew he wouldn’t do anything silly.

“A 1-2 for the team is a great result. I’d like for it to have been the other way around, but Ash (Sutton) is on incredible form; he’s at the top of his game at the moment, and anybody would do well to beat him.”