Dan Lloyd happy with front-running pace in Hockenheim practice

Dan Lloyd was the best of the Hondas, four-tenths of a second away from the pace-setting Audi of Santiago Urrutia in the second practice session at Hockenheim, and the reigning TCR UK champion says he’s happy with his performance so far.

Lloyd, who’s joined the Slovakian Brutal Fish Racing team in a second Civic TCR alongside team owner and driver Martin Ryba, whose Slovakian surname translates into the English for “fish”, was on the pace from the off in Germany, a circuit he’s raced at previously in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup.

“I struggled a little bit in FP1 with the car, but we changed a lot for FP2 and made some positive steps forward,” said Lloyd to TouringCarTimes.

“There’s still more to come, but the main thing is I’m at the sharp end of an extremely tight championship, where these guys have done a lot of pre-season work already.”

The team entered just one car for Ryba at the opening round in Hungary, where Lloyd was on hand as a coach, before the team added a second Honda, switching from the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR they raced last year.

“This team is only two years old, so considering how professional they are now is a credit to them,” said Lloyd.

“I’m getting on well with everyone, and I’ve worked with my engineer (Dave Scott, Esteban Guerrieri’s engineer in WTCR) before, which really helps – so I feel really confident with who’s around me, so it’s now about just setting the car up for me now.”

Lloyd was behind fellow Briton Josh Files’ Hyundai in the second session, but neither driver was able to get near the WRT and Comtoyou Racing-run Audis of Santiago Urrutia and Gilles Magnus.

“The Audis are obviously really strong. You never know what people have done though, and I know we have more to come, but I’m sure everyone else has as well. I think after the Audis it’s probably quite even across the other manufacturers, but I’m still going to be aiming for the top.”