Dan Lloyd hailed an ‘emotional result’ in the first race of the TCR Europe season at Circuit Paul Ricard, where the Brutal Fish Racing driver resisted pressure from Mehdi Bennani to win race one.
Lloyd made a better start than both front-row drivers John Filippi and Bennani, allowing the Honda driver to sneak up the inside for the first corner.
As Bennani followed the Brit into second, Lloyd then had to deal with race-long pressure from the Moroccan’s Audi to claim the season-opening win.
Lloyd already won two races in the second half of 2019, one of which was from a reverse-grid pole. The Brit said that having experience of the car from last year helped him to hit the ground running in 2020.
“It’s a really emotional result after such a difficult year for everyone around the world,” said Lloyd. “To come here and have a result like that against some top drivers means I’m so, so happy.
“All credit to the Brutal Fish team and Honda for an awesome result.
“The start was perfect; that’s the benefit of having a season under my belt and it’s not something I’ve had before.
“It took me until the second half of the season last year for me to really nail my starts so hopefully I can keep them going like that!”
Lloyd will start Sunday’s reverse-grid race, scheduled for 12:15 CEST (11:15 BST) from eighth on the grid.