Dan Lloyd was keeping expectations in check ahead of the start of the British Touring Car Championship season, with the new Team HARD signing having had limited pre-season running.
Lloyd, 31, has switched teams for the third year in a row, with the Huddersfield racer never having had back-to-back touring car campaigns with the same team.
He joins Team HARD to race one of its CUPRA Leon cars. With five other team-mates, Team HARD has been unable to give all of its drivers significant pre-season testing, leaving Lloyd with several unknowns heading to Donington Park this weekend.
Although Lloyd was on the podium at the Leicestershire circuit in 2021 when driving for Power Maxed Racing, he said he did not want to ‘get too carried away’ about predicting strong early season results this year.
“Pre-season has been difficult for a lot of teams and like many of our rivals, we would have liked more time on track in dry conditions before round one,” said Lloyd, who won three times with EXCELR8 Motorsport in 2022.
“Because of that, I think this weekend will be a real step into the unknown for a lot of drivers, and it is difficult to predict what will happen.
“For me personally, I think it’s important not to get too carried away when it comes to results as this is a brand-new car and a new team for me.
“So far, I can’t fault the team for the effort it has put in to get ready for the new season, and the hard work starts now to get the CUPRA how I like my car to be.
“Of course, I want to be as high up the order as I can be, and I’ll be pushing hard to put some early points on the board.
“But the main focus has to be to get as much running as we can across the weekend and then we can collect plenty of information to help us as the season goes on.”