Huddersfield’s Dan Lloyd claimed his third podium from the previous four Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race starts last weekend (9/10 October), with an impressive performance on Donington Park’s historic national circuit.

Heading into the penultimate meeting of the 2021 season off the back of his most successful BTCC weekend to date at Silverstone, the Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing driver managed to hustle his way from a challenging start through to a front-row grid position in qualifying, followed up with a second-place podium and two further top-seven finishes.

With a potential maiden season victory on the cards, Lloyd was finally able to show his true race pace as he challenged multiple BTCC champion Gordon Shedden for the lead while holding off protagonist Rory Butcher in the opener. The 29-year-old held his own against the two Scotsmen to cross the line in second – his third podium visit from the previous four races.

Carrying 66kgs of success ballast onboard for the first time, Lloyd had to think on his feet in race two. After getting slightly bogged down on the start line, he recovered well from the challenges of lighter cars and ran door-to-door with the main title contenders – eventually bringing the #123 Astra home in a commendable fifth.

Lloyd maintained position in the final encounter, to end his day with another solid haul of points in seventh.

“The weekend was a tale of two halves really,” said Lloyd. “We had such a tough start down in P18 with a lot of issues with the car in FP1. We were still wrestling with major issues again in FP2 and were four-tenths off Jason [Plato] who was in P1. We changed a lot of stuff to the set-up for qualifying and really turned the day around.

“Managing to get into Q2 and then onto the front row was a massive achievement from where we started the day. We’ve just been chipping away at it and driving the car to its full potential. I was over the moon with a front row start in second and we’re on top of the car now, which feels great.

“Qualifying obviously put us in good stead for the races, and I was going for the win in race one. The tyres just dropped off too much after the safety car and Gordon [Shedden] had the pace on us in the second half.

“Race two was the first time that I'd ever driven with 66kg in the car so to hold on to fifth was a mega result – I learnt a lot. To follow that up with a solid finish in P7 for race 3 with 39kg on board was a great result for the team after how hard they’ve all worked.

“It’s amazing how quickly you get used to the podium! We’re on a roll now and enjoying this great run. We’ve had more podiums in the past three weeks than I have in ten years in the BTCC, so I’m mega happy with that.”

Lloyd and Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing now have a short break before the 2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season finale at the iconic Brands Hatch GP Circuit on 23/24 October.