Dan Lloyd took a lights to flag victory in the first race of the TCR UK era on the Silverstone National circuit this afternoon in his un-liveried VW Golf.
A great start in the WestCoast Racing machine saw him take the lead quite comfortably from the second place starting Alfa Giulietta of Aiden Moffatt. Moffatt stuck with Lloyd for the first four laps before slowly fading away leaving Lloyd to take what seemed like an easy victory by 2.2 seconds.
Confusion then reigned as Moffatt was given a 5-second penalty for track limits meaning he fell off the podium to be classified in fourth. Then, just as the podium interviews were coming to an end, it was announced that the penalty had been rescinded and Moffatt kept his second place.
Third place went to the Team Pyro Honda Civic of Ollie Taylor from the hard charging Andreas Backman, meaning there were two WestCoast Racing cars in the top four. Both moved through from fifth and eighth on the grid respectively in the first few laps to run several seconds apart before Backman, in only his first circuit car race after doing several years of karting and rallycross, closed right up on Taylor in the last couple of laps of the 30-minute race but ran out of time to make a move.
Third place starting Howard Fuller finished fifth after a terrible start dropped him down the order but he recovered well. He was chased very hard for most of the race by Finlay Crocker, the second Team Pyro entry. Crocker was unable to make a move but even if one had come it was unlikely to change the result as he was given a 5-second penalty for track limits (unluckily for him the penalty was not rescinded!).
Olli Kangas and Jessica Backman fought hard for the whole race to finish in seventh and eighth followed by Stewart Lines, Carl Swift and Lewis Kent. Kent started fourth in his Hyundai but fell away quite quickly being passed by a car a lap in the early exchanges.
The second Alfa of Derek Palmer was unable to run during yesterdays qualifying due to an engine issue but he made the start and ran well for the first ten minutes before the engine again caused problems and he was forced to retire. Darelle Wilson was classified in thirteenth and last place after spinning into the gravel at the Maggotts and Becketts complex after he turned in a little early on Lewis Kent on the sixth lap.
The era of TCR in the UK started well. The cars look and sound great and there was some excellent racing, especially in the first third of the race, with cars running three abreast at times down the National straight.
The second race takes place later this afternoon with the grid being set by the reverse top-ten of the second quickest qualifying times.
Feature Image Credit – TCR UK
