BTCC Croft: Lloyd beats Turkington for emotional win in Race 1

Both drivers bounced back from their massive accident at Oulton Park to provide a compelling opener on the North Yorkshire circuit, from which Lloyd prevailed to claim his second BTCC race win.

Key to Lloyd’s win was a superb opening lap. From third on the grid, his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N slipped down the inside of Dan Rowbottom’s Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R for second at the first turn at Clervaux.

Turkington’s West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport had converted pole into the lead, but the rear-wheel-drive cars take longer to warm their tyres, and Lloyd drew to the outside into Tower bend.

He then got a cutback on exit, and Lloyd completed his pass for the lead by holding a slide around the outside into the Jim Clark Esses.

An early safety car, caused by Ollie Jackson’s Ford becoming embedded in the tyre wall at Sunny Out, eliminated Lloyd’s advantage, and he then faced seven laps of Turkington breathing down his neck until a second neutralisation, triggered by Aron Taylor-Smith spinning his Team Hard Cupra into the barriers on the exit of the chicane.

There were three laps of racing to go when the race went green, and Lloyd had to resist Turkington, 13 times a winner at this circuit.

Colin Turkington, Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Turkington’s final gambit was to draw to the outside into the complex on the last lap, but somehow Lloyd held on and took the flag 0.377 seconds in front.

“Oh my God, I’m an emotional wreck, I really am,” said a tearful Lloyd. “The last two weeks have been hell, and to come back and do that after the team have rebuilt the car, I’m just lost for words.

“It was really hard work. I said I’d give it my all and that first lap was the representation of it. After that we didn’t have the ultimate pace, especially in the final sector.”

Turkington was not only attacking but defending through the middle portion of the race, with Rowbottom right on his bootlid.

But a messy final restart from Rowbottom sent the Honda through the gravel at Clervaux, and from then to the finish he had to concentrate on fending off the second Excelr8 Hyundai of Tom Ingram, who set fastest lap in the early stages as he latched onto the leading trio.

Jake Hill in his WSR BMW completed the five-car train for the lead during the middle of the race, but a lock-up entering the complex on the penultimate lap dropped him away from Ingram and into the clutches of Ash Sutton’s Motorbase Performance Ford Focus, which he narrowly beat to fifth.

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com Hyundai i30N

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Rory Butcher made good progress early on from outside the top 10 to take seventh in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla ahead of Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50), George Gamble (Ciceley Motorsport BMW) and Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai).

Gordon Shedden went out on the first lap with suspension damage to his Dynamics Honda, while championship leader Josh Cook was a lowly 15th in his BTC Racing Honda.

BTCC Croft - Race 1 Results

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Laps	Interval
1	Daniel Lloyd			18
2	Colin Turkington			18
3	Daniel Rowbottom			18	0.402
4	Tom Ingram			18	0.388
5	Jake Hill			18	1.042
6	Ashley Sutton			18	0.525
7	Rory Butcher			18	0.713
8	Aiden Moffat			18	0.300
9	George Gamble			18	0.598
10	Tom Chilton			18	1.049
11	Stephen Jelley			18	0.275
12	Bobby Thompson			18	0.693
13	Dan Cammish			18	0.412
14	James Gornall			18	0.621
15	Josh Cook			18	0.504
16	Michael Crees			18	1.050
17	Jason Plato			18	1.156
18	Ash Hand			18	0.629
19	Adam Morgan			18	0.274
20	Dexter Patterson			18	0.173
21	Sam Osborne			18	2.255
22	Jade Edwards			18	0.829
23	Nicolas Hamilton			18	1.422
24	Ricky Collard			17
	Aron Taylor-Smith			12
	Will Powell			11
	Ollie Jackson			1
	Gordon Shedden			1
View full results