Hyundai racer does the double at Croft, before Honda driver Gordon Shedden earns third race victory
Dan Lloyd bounced back from his big accident at the BTCC’s Oulton Park round two weeks ago to score a double victory at his local Croft track. The Yorkshire driver was in imperious form in the first two races at Croft, before Gordon Shedden reversed his topsy-turvy weekend by winning the final round in his Honda Civic Type R.
Feel-good story
It was a good-news podium in the first race at Croft, because pole-sitter BMW driver Colin Turkington followed Lloyd home, after both drivers were involved in the high-impact crash at Oulton.
Lloyd had qualified third but got past the Honda of Dan Rowbottom at the first corner before then setting about Turkington, who he also got past on the first lap. The Hyundai driver then managed to keep Turkington behind him for the remainder of the race, with Rowbottom following less than a second back.
It was Lloyd’s first BTCC win in four years and was clearly an poignant victory. “I’m an emotional wreck, I really am,” said Lloyd. “The last two weeks have been hell and yesterday was good enough to come back and put it third on the grid. I’ve only had one win in the BTCC and that was here four years ago; to come back and do it after the team has completely rebuilt the car is just unbelievable.”
One-two for Bristol Street Motors team
Lloyd led home team-mate Tom Ingram for a one-two finish in the second race at Croft. Lloyd enjoyed a relatively stress-free run at the head of the field, having led the race from pole, but Ingram had more work to do.
He managed to get past Rowbottom, impressively around the outside of the first corner, before then going after Turkington, from where Ingram ran to second at the flag.
Further back, Jake Hill and Ash Sutton scored valuable points, keeping them in the hunt in the overall championship.
Shedden scores second win of season
From being on the pace in both practice and qualifying, Shedden endured a frustrating start to the races as broken suspension led to a DNF in the first race. A strong second-race fightback earned him 12th spot before a dominant light-to-flag win in the final round. The Honda driver was 2.5sec ahead of Josh Cook by the end, a chasm in BTCC terms.
Cook’s second place was vital in his championship battle, as he had only managed to finish 15th and 11th in the weekend’s other races. It means that he slips to second place in the championship, three points behind leader Ingram, whose consistency at Croft paid off. Turkington lies third as the BTCC circus enjoys its mid-season break ahead of the Knockhill round on 30/31 July.