The penultimate round of the TCR UK series takes place at Croft this weekend, with points leader Dan Lloyd aiming to wrap up the inaugural title with a round to spare.
Lloyd heads into the meeting with a 78-point lead over nearest rival Ollie Taylor, in part due to the seven-time race winner having received 30 points’ worth of penalties this season – equivalent to a third-place finish.
The Huddersfield racer openly admitted before the event that had he had enough of an advantage that he would have potentially skipped the event, but that scenario became too much of a risk with points worth less than two race wins separating him from Taylor.
But for Lloyd, who will be joined by WestCoast Racing team-mates Andreas and Jessica Bäckman after an unexpected change of plans for the Swedes, his task will be made even harder by also having received a five-place grid penalty for race one following contact with Stewart Lines at Oulton Park.
“This is a huge weekend for our championship fight,” admits Lloyd. “We were never 100 % sure of racing here with the team having other commitments, but with the title still undecided, I’m really happy that we’re getting the chance to race this weekend and defend our championship lead.
“The Championship is by no means decided as yet. Race one is going to be tough with the five-place grid spot drop. I need to stay out of trouble and bag as many points as possible this weekend to keep our lead at the top of the standings safe heading into the final next month.”
Taylor has already announced that he is to ramp up his TCR programme at the end of 2018, with the Pyro Motorsport driver set to also take part in the TCR Europe races at Monza and Barcelona.
But the Honda driver is also entering his fourth meeting with the new-spec Civic Type R and he carries confidence from the last race at Oulton Park, where he took second after starting the race in eighth position.
Lewis Kent heads into the meeting hoping to capitalise on his recent podium finish in Cheshire, whilst Derek Palmer will be the sole Alfa Romeo representative after team-mate Robert Gilmour’s car was written off in a huge shunt last time out. Palmer also took his best result of the season in the last meeting, and will be targeting a maiden TCR podium.
Having handed his car over to reigning BTCC champion Ash Sutton last time out, Verizon Connect Racing’s Finlay Crocker will return to driving duties in the second of the 2018-spec Civics, hoping to rid himself of the bad luck that hampered his last outing at Castle Combe when he was taken out in race one.
Darelle Wilson returns to the grid in his DW Racing Vauxhall Astra TCR, but grid numbers are prevented from growing due to the absence of the second Maximum Motorsport CUPRA of Carl Swift, who was involved in a big crash at Oulton Park with Gilmour.
Sean Walkinshaw will also bring his older-spec Honda Civic back to the grid for the event, with the team having missed the last two events after Howard Fuller’s budget dried up. Walkinshaw himself will get back behind the wheel for the second time this year, after making his début at Knockhill in May.
The weekend format will see two ‘warm up’ sessions on Saturday morning, followed by free practice and qualifying late on in the day at 16:30 BST. Races one and two will then follow on Sunday at 12:25 BST and 15:15 BST respectively. Both races are a third shorter than usual, lasting just 20 minutes.