Dan Lloyd leads the way in the final practice at Brands Hatch
TCR UK Touring Car Championship points leader Dan Lloyd was fastest of all in the official Free Practice session at Brands Hatch, leading his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Bäckman, with Ollie Taylor third fastest in the Pyro Motorsport Honda Civic TCR.
Lloyd set a benchmark time of 48.990 early in the session, the only driver under the 49 second barrier in the Golf GTI TCR in the whole session.
Lloyd’s closest challenged at this point was the warm up pace-setter Ollie Taylor in the Pyro Honda, with Andreas Bäckman just jumping ahead before the session was red-flagged with ten minutes to go.
The red flag was out after Maximum Motorsport’s Carl Swift spun off at Paddock Hill bend, with his Cupra TCR rescued by the stewards and was then able to return to the pit lane under his own power.
The session resumed, with Lloyd quickly finding more time in his Golf, twice improving to set a best time of 48.580, over four-tenths of a second clear of team-mate Bäckman, with Taylor third, just within half a second.
Lewis Kent finished the session fourth fastest in the lone Hyundai i30 N TCR, with Robert Gilmour fifth fastest in the DPE Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, despite two minor excursions at both Graham Hill and Paddock Hill bends.
Carl Swift ended up sixth despite missing a third of the session, with Derek Palmer seventh fastest in his Alfa, the last driver within a second of Lloyd’s time.
Finlay Crocker was eighth quickest in his Honda Civic TCR, with Jessica Bäckman in the WestCoast Volkswagen and Howard Fuller in the SWR Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR completing the top ten.
The next session today is qualifying, which follows at 16:20 BST.
