At the wheel of his Tockwith Motorsport entered car, Daniel raced to a top
six finish in round 21 at the Leicestershire venue this lunchtime before going
on to take a fifth place result during a shortened round 22 later in the
day.
The second Ginetta Junior encounter was particularly frustrating for Daniel
as he had made outstanding progress from 12th position on the grid and looked
all set to challenge for the fifth visit to the podium of his debut season in
car racing.
Prior to the red flags being shown on lap 13, due to Alice Powell’s car
having become stranded in the gravel on the outside of Gerard’s Bend the lap
before, 16-year-old Daniel had Josh Hill and Jake Farndon under a lot of
pressure but the stoppage ended his chances of a potential rostrum finish.
Nonetheless, fifth was a terrific result.
Daniel said: “The car was very good in race two but we only had about six
or seven racing laps in total which was disappointing. I made up seven places in
just four laps but there was nothing we could do after that because of the red
flags.
“I’m sure we would have had the podium if the race had gone the full
distance, I’m confident I was quicker than (Josh) Hill and (Jake) Farndon and
with (Dino) Zamparelli and (Thomas) Carnaby fighting over the lead they were
slowing themselves up. Who knows what could have happened if we’d had a chance
to fight them?”
Qualifying threatened to put the West Yorkshire racer firmly on the back
foot, a spin early in the session at the John Cooper Esses resulting in a heavy
impact with the barriers on the outside of the circuit. Seriously damaging the
rear of Daniel’s car, he did recover to the track but was soon forced to pull
out of the action.
Handicapping his race chances, Daniel would line up an uncharacteristic
11th on the grid for round 21 and 12th on the grid for round 22. The British
Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship Winner, however, was
more than up to the challenge and he produced a brace of strong race
performances.
Even though he wasn’t happy with his car’s handling during race one as a
decision to run with wet weather tyres and settings failed to pay off on a track
which dried faster than expected following earlier rain, Daniel still managed to
achieve a top six result with a determined drive.
Getting away from the grid well, Daniel made his way into the fight over
10th position as the field headed towards the Esses for the first time and at
Shaw’s Hairpin he moved into ninth place with a neat piece of driving.
Pressuring eighth placed Powell over the next couple of laps, an attempted
pass on the inside through Gerard’s failed to reap reward but Daniel’s efforts
paid off on lap seven when he gained two places in quick succession. The
Tockwith racer then caught Farndon and passed him for sixth on the run out of
Devil’s Elbow into lap 11.
Jake Batty crashed out of the top four on lap 14 at Gerard’s handing
Daniel fifth place but a charging Dominic Pettit – running with a fully dry
set-up on his car – managed to get past Daniel to push him back to sixth on lap
15.
For the fully dry round 22, Daniel was much happier with his car’s handling
and it instantly showed as he gained three places in the first couple of laps.
On lap three at Shaw’s, Fergus Walkinshaw and Batty made contact while fighting
over third. Daniel seized his opportunity and made up four places in one go to
move into fifth.
The Safety Car was deployed on lap five due to the incident at the hairpin
and after the re-start on lap 11, only two more racing laps were completed by
the front-runners before the race was stopped due to Powell’s aforementioned
excursion into the gravel.
On overall scores, Daniel is 26 points clear of fifth placed Jake Farndon
in the driver standings but with the category’s ‘drop score’ ruling implemented
– each competitor having to subtract their four worst scores at the end of the
season – his nearest rival is Dominic Pettit 25 points adrift.
Rounds 23 and 24 of the Ginetta Junior season, Daniel’s final two races in
the series before he moves on in 2009, will take place over the weekend
20th/21st September at Brands Hatch in Kent as support to the HiQ MSA British
Touring Car Championship.
Provisional 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after
Rd22):
1st Dino Zamparelli, 578pts; 2nd Thomas Carnaby, 562pts; 3rd
Josh Hill, 446pts; 4th Daniel Lloyd,
376pts
