Dan Lloyd was pleased to qualify in third for the opening TCR Europe race of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard, with the Brit hoping for a ‘solid start to the season’ as he fights for the title.
Lloyd joined the grid at the second event in 2019, meaning that the Brutal Fish Racing driver was never really going to be in with a shot at the outright title.
In any case, it took Lloyd and the team three events to reach the podium last year, before Lloyd then won twice, at Oschersleben and Barcelona, to conclude the season as a genuine front-runner.
For 2020, Lloyd has higher expectations, and in qualifying in France he was just over a tenth of a second behind eventual pole-sitter John Filippi.
Moreover, Lloyd was pleased to beat factory-backed Honda driver Néstor Girolami by three tenths, with the Argentine lining up alongside Lloyd on the second row of the grid for race one.
“I’m really, really happy,” said Lloyd, who won twice in TCR Europe in 2019. “Yesterday was a tough day for us as neither of the practice sessions was clean as we had to change the car a lot, so it was all about putting it together this morning.
“I’m happy with myself as I did so much homework yesterday and I put a lot of work in and I’m so happy with the team as they gave me a perfect car.
“I just wanted a solid start to the season; last year, I felt I had to perform in every single session but this year it’s all about the championship so it was a good, solid start.
“To top it off we’ve got drivers the calibre of Girolami here and I’m really happy I was able to out-qualify him.”
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:50 CEST (10:50 BST).