Eurotech Racing's Daniel Lloyd has set the fastest time of the weekend so far after clocking a late lap in the final practice session at Croft.
The BTCC rookie has shown impressive one-lap pace since joining the series at Thruxton, and the young Yorkshireman has starred again here at Croft. With seconds ticking away in the 40 minute session, Lloyd hauled his Honda Civic Type R to the fastest first sector overall, before setting personal bests in the second and third segments – resulting in a 1:24.511s benchmark.
"It was a good run and we were able to put a decent lap down at the end," enthused Lloyd. "I knew we had good overall pace, but we spent most of the session playing around with a few things with a view to race set-up. I’m sure everybody will find a bit more speed before qualifying, but this is a good start and it’s mega to be quickest.
"Racing is obviously another kettle of fish and I got caught out on a couple of occasions at Oulton Park, but I won’t be letting that happen again. I finished FP2 here with one of my wing mirrors missing, so I’m definitely getting stuck in!"
Tom Ingram looked to have topped the times with his own fine effort in the final five minutes, before settling into second. The Speedworks Toyota driver does however, keep up his impressive record of finishing in the top three in nine of the 14 timed practice and qualifying sessions so far this season.
It was Sam Tordoff who came out of the blocks to fire his Team JCT600 with GardX BMW to top spot in the early running, later becoming the first driver to dip into the 1:24s. WSR briefly held a 1-2-3 before Team HARD drivers Michael Epps and Jake Hill briefly starred at the head of the field.
Tordoff then set his improved time and he was joined by Ingram, Jason Plato and Colin Turkington in the 1:24s bracket – the quartet separated by just 0.080s. In fact for much of the running the top 20 drivers were covered by less than a second.
Ingram jumped to the top and improved further still on his second tour of a final run, but Lloyd would not be denied as he flew through the order to snatch P1. Ingram withstood a late charge from the Motorbase Ford of Andrew Jordan, as the latter backed up his encouraging morning practice run with another stellar effort in FP2.
Tordoff eventually settled for fourth although he too will be buoyed by his performance in the maximum ballast carrying BMW.
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing held fifth, sixth and seventh but few could have predicted the order as team boss Warren Scott leaped over Jason Plato and Colin Turkington in the last few moments.
"I was actually struggling a little bit until we put a new set of tyres on," said Scott. "The guys have done a great job with this car – it’s the most enjoyable one I’ve ever driven. I’m loving it! It’ll be a bit strange going into the debrief now – the fastest driver in the team always speaks first and I’ve never been in that situation before!"
Rob Austin and Hunter Abbott enjoyed solid runs to eighth and ninth respectively, whilst the Team IHG Reward Club BMW of Jack Goff rounded out the top ten.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 2 – Croft Circuit:
1 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Eurotech Racing 1m24.511s
2 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.009s
3 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.013s
4 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.342s
5 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.379s
6 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.407s
7 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.422s
8 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +0.428s
9 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.438s
10 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +0.507s
11 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +0.510s
12 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +0.511s
13 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.584s
14 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +0.624s
15 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +0.644s
16 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.749s
17 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.296s
18 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.849s
19 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.852s
20 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.929s
21 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 0.959s
22 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.977s
23 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com+1.015s
24 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1.140s
25 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.250s
26 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +1.407s
27 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +1.495s
28 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +1.566s
29 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +1.685s
30 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +2.126s
31 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +2.189s
32 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +4.238s
