Restart Racing’s Daniel Lloyd says he is in a ‘really good place’ heading to the British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch this weekend, where he is targeting a first title in the series.
Following an outright victory in race one at Silverstone last time out, a further Independent class win in race two and a class podium in race three, Lloyd has moved to the top of the Independent drivers’ standings by five points ahead of Mikey Doble.
The 33-year-old also scored his first BTCC win in almost three years, which has given him a boost in confidence heading into October’s showdown.
Lloyd told TouringCars.Net that he would approach the weekend no differently to any other, being wary of making mistakes if he overthinks the championship situation.
“The first thing is to approach it the same as the Silverstone weekend,” said Lloyd. “Brands Hatch GP is my favourite circuit on the calendar, which is nice and the car is in a very good place.
“We’ve sorted out the engine overheating issue that we’ve had for the past four rounds, so we’re in a really good place.
“I’ll be going there aiming to get straight on the pace, get to the front and the rest will come with it.
“I need to not worry about it and the rest will come, that’s the best way to approach it. The people who count points, that’s when things go wrong. Let’s crack on!”
Following concerns over budget in the middle of the season, Lloyd picked up some additional sponsors for the final few rounds. Whilst he admits that it resulted in him being in a difficult position budget-wise, he has accepted the situation ahead of the season finale.
“I’ll probably still end the season in a bit of debt, but its not horrendous and it’s something I’ve accepted in my head. At this point it’s fine – I’ll just take out a loan!
“Despite all the struggles, sleepless nights and stress its days like we had at Silverstone which is why we do it. Something special like that draws you back in and makes it feel like it’s all worth it.
“It would be nice to end on a high. Massive thanks to all the new sponsors that have come on board; it would be nice to repay them. And my current sponsors – it’s all very well shouting out the new ones, but the loyal sponsors who have backed me year in and year out.
“Let’s hope we end on a high.”