Ollie Taylor happy with points, rues missed opportunity for Race 1 win

Ollie Taylor left Brands Hatch second in the points’ standings after a strong weekend at Brands Hatch, with second in Race 1 and fifth in Race 2, though the Pyro Motorsport Honda driver believes he could have won the first race.

Taylor launched into the lead of the race ahead of Dan Lloyd’s WestCoast Racing Volkswagen golt GTI TCR at the start of the race, but lost out on lap five at Clearways when Lloyd snuck back ahead and into the lead.

In Race 2, Taylor made slow progress from eighth on the grid, but went on to finish in fifth, scoring key points in the championship, jumping ahead of WestCoast driver Andreas Bäckman in the standings, and is now 99 points behind Lloyd.

“I had an awesome start in Race 2, but I had nowhere to go. I should have gone left, but went down the middle and then got blocked in,” said Taylor to TouringCarTimes.

“I then got a knock on the first lap, I don’t know who that was, and the steering was just at two o’clock. After that, I just saw people making mistakes, falling off, and I just kept thinking each time ‘another place, another place’.

“The drivers who finished fourth, third and second aren’t in the championship hunt at the minute, so overall it was quite a good points race for us,” he added.

“I’m happy with the weekend in general. The car was fantastic. I think I could have won Race 1, I just didn’t close the door enough; I thought I had it covered and I didn’t, and Dan didn’t need any more than an inch and he took it, it’s a shame as I think I had the car and the pace to hold him off.”