Restart Racing came away from Donington Park GP (30/31 August) with a trio of Independents’ victories, as Chris Smiley and Dan Lloyd battled through a weekend of highs, lows, and suddenly changing weather conditions.
Smiley thrived in the wet Quick Six shootout, guiding his Hyundai i30N to fourth on the grid – his second-best qualifying result of the season – while Lloyd ended up tenth after a wrong call on tyre strategy in Part 2 of qualifying. Both drivers were then promoted one place following Mikey Doble’s exclusion, giving Smiley third and Lloyd ninth for the opening race.
Race one began strongly for Smiley, the Carrickfergus-native made a fast start from the second row, briefly in the fight for the lead before slotting into third. After laps of door-to-door action with the NAPA Racing UK Fords, the #22 slipped to ninth, still securing the Independents’ victory to bolster his title challenge. Lloyd, running the hard tyre as mandated for one of the three bouts, finished 14th after battling in the midfield throughout.
The second race of the day proved to have one of the most unexpected laps seen anywhere this season. Smiley initially made a superb start to climb into the top five, while Lloyd rose to sixth before the sudden rain struck. Heavy rain at McLeans, with no prior warning, sent a large portion of the field off the road, which would cause a safety car period that would run until the chequered flag.
Smiley crossed the line fourth overall and appeared to have another Independents’ success, only for a post-race exclusion for a ride height infringement to hand the win to Lloyd – his first of the season.
The partially-reversed-grid race, the final of the weekend, saw Lloyd line up tenth and Smiley starting from the rear of the grid, in 22nd, after his exclusion from the previous bout. Lloyd battled hard to finish eighth overall and secure back-to-back Independents’ wins, moving forward in all three races throughout the day, while Smiley succumbed to an unfortunate puncture that dropped him to 21st at the flag.
The team left Donington with a clean sweep of Independents’ honours, vital championship points and both drivers in contention heading into the final two rounds of the season, fighting for honours.
Chris Smiley said: “That’s Donington Park GP done and dusted. Qualifying was really strong, starting race one from P3. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the pace in that first race to move forward, but we still came away with the Independent win.
“Race two started well, I kept my nose clean while the chaos unfolded and crossed the line fourth overall with another Independent win. Sadly, the car was just under the ride height limit, so we were excluded, which put us to the back for race three.
“With the boost of fourth place and starting on the hard tyre, I was fighting through and up to about 15th with a few laps to go, but then picked up a puncture. We got it changed and still managed to classify to grab some points for the Independents, but it wasn’t the day we were hoping for. Still, we’ll regroup and I’m looking forward to Silverstone.”
Dan Lloyd said: “So that’s Donington Park done, what a mental day, a really tough weekend. We came away with two Independent wins, one of them not the way I’d want to take it with my teammate getting excluded, but we’ll take the points.
“The last race was a proper battle, got knocked about a couple of times, but managed to bring it home in P8 with another Independent win, which is mega for the championship.
“Honestly, just happy to be in one piece after the chaos in the wet second race. Two rounds left now and it’s all to play for. Big thanks to the team for all their hard work.”
Restart Racing and their rivals in the 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship return to action at Silverstone (20/21 September) for the penultimate event of the campaign.
