Dan Lloyd: “I hoped his tyres would fade with 60kg onboard, but apparently not.”

Dan Lloyd has said he is disappointed to miss out on a first win in the TCR Europe Touring Car Series, after falling behind the two Hyundais of Andreas Bäckman and Nelson Panciatici late in the race, when the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda driver’s tyres started to fade – with Lloyd hoping his rival’s tyres would have gone off first.

Lloyd had taken the lead at the start, and was holding back his former team-mate Bäckman during the first 14 laps, before he eventually ran too wide at Turn 3, allowing Bäckman through with Panciatici following, with Lloyd then wrestling with his worn tyres to not fall back into the clutches of the rival Honda of Tom Coronel.

The battle all came down to tyres, which in the warmth and at the twisty Oschersleben circuit, were dropping fast in the final laps, with the top drivers starting to struggle.

“It’s obviously disappointing to lose the win after leading 90% of the race, but the Hyundai is the quicker car this weekend and I had to drive at 110% just to keep him behind me, and that showed in the last three laps,” said Lloyd to TouringCarTimes.

“I was hoping (Bäckman’s) tyres would go off carrying 60kg around, but apparently not,” he added, referring to the Hyundai i30 N TCR’s maximum compensation weight.

“The tyres fell off a cliff in the last two laps so I even lost time to (Nelson) Panciatici and (Tom) Coronel, but if I hadn’t been pushing so hard, he’d have just passed me on the straight.

“It’s still a solid result. We’re still one of the quicker cars out there, and it looked like a messy race today, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”