Dan Lloyd has accepted responsibility for his race-ending collision with Aurelien Comte in the opening TCR Europe race at Hockenheim.
The reigning TCR UK champion was fighting his way back through the field after losing ground at the start, when his Honda Civic Type R locked up into the heavy braking zone at Turn 2 and made contact with Comte’s Peugeot 308 TCR.
The incident left Lloyd on the sidelines on his debut in the category, whilst Comte recovered to finish seventh.
“I got a bad start off the line, the red lights went out very quickly and caught me out, so I lost quite a few places off the line, I think about three or four,” explained Lloyd to TouringCars.net.
“I managed to gain three places back on the first lap to ninth. I saw [Luca] Filippi was quite early on the brakes in most areas so heading down into Turn 2, I went for the overtake, pulled out, hit the brakes and when I hit the brakes they locked on the inside and I wasn’t able to slow down enough before putting my nose to the side of Comte.
“A mistake on my behalf but looking back at the data and everything, I braked earlier than I did in free practice so it wasn’t a crazy move, unfortunately I just locked up and [there was] contact.”
The incident hasn’t dampened the British Touring Car Championship race-winner’s fighting spirit, however, with Lloyd resolving to make the most of his third-placed starting slot tomorrow to reward Brutal Fish’s efforts with a good result.
“I’ll reset myself overnight and come back, [I’m] trying to completely forget this today,” said Lloyd.
“I feel really bad now because it’s not what I wanted at all, but I’ve got the opportunity to make it up to the team tomorrow, so it’s important I do forget it and concentrate on the next race.”
The final race of the weekend at the 2.8-mile Baden-Wurttemberg circuit gets underway at 10:35 BST tomorrow [26th May].