National reports: Castle Combe; Donington Park; Brands Hatch
Dan Lloyd may have continued his march towards the inaugural TCR UK title, but the Westcoast Racing driver was finally beaten as Ollie Taylor took his Honda
Civic to a maiden success in the opener.
From pole position – secured when he found 0.7 seconds in the closing stages of qualifying – Taylor led until the final lap when Lloyd sensed a gap at Quarry. He dived into it, but Taylor closed the door and was shoved wide.
Lloyd crossed the finish line first, but his six-race winning streak ended when the clerk of the course sided with Taylor and reversed the positions.
From second on the grid, Lloyd’s Volkswagen Golf GTI had bogged down at the start and only just avoided the mid-grid opening-lap chaos as he dropped to fourth. He picked off Lewis Kent (Hyundai i30 N) and Andreas Backman (VW) before hunting down Taylor, as Backman finished third.
Lloyd admitted he had “tried to be a bit too clever” by setting only one quick lap in qualifying in an attempt to secure a double pole, but his tactics worked for race two’s grid (set by a reversal of the second-quickest times). From pole position he cleared off into the distance, surviving a safety car to beat Taylor, who climbed up from fifth, and Carl Swift (SEAT Leon Cupra), who scored a maiden podium.
Chasing a lap record, Niall Murray almost threw away the first National Formula Ford race when he ran wide at Old Paddock on the final lap. But
Jamie Thorburn, who had pressured him throughout, was unable to take advantage after making a small mistake himself a lap earlier. Michael Eastwell stayed with the leading pair throughout to complete the podium.
That was about as close as anyone got to Murray’s Van Diemen RF99 all weekend. Race two brought a routine win ahead of Matt Round-garrido – who clashed with Eastwell on the final lap – and Luke Cooper, who had earlier won the local Castle Combe Formula
Ford Championship race. In the reversedgrid finale, Murray passed Eastwell for the lead before half-distance, then held him off to scoop the series’ first hat-trick, with Round-garrido third.
A thin Porsche field produced a terrific first race, with championship leader Adam Southgate eventually prevailing but only after James Coleman – who retired with a broken suspension arm – and Garry Lawrence – who ran wide at Quarry – had spells in front.
Southgate won a shortened race two, after a heavy accident for Nick Hull at Camp left his Boxster on its roof, but with the driver unscathed.
Coleman took race three after a demon start from fifth, while a spin by Southgate limited him to third behind Lawrence.
With a new radiator aiding cooling in baking temperatures, Michael Watton resumed his position at the front of the F1000 field, claiming a trio of wins. Watton survived a couple of lairy moments at Camp on his way to race-one honours; Dan Clowes was twice runner-up, and
Alok Iyengar scored a best-ever result with second in race two.
Reigning champion Steven Dailly took both BMW Compact Cup races. He was pushed hard by Owen Hunter and Ian
Jones in the first, before the pair clashed in race two, with Hunter excluded and Jones retiring. That promoted Matt
Parkes to second, completing a fine comeback after being disqualified from qualifying for a yellow-flag infringement.
Gary Prebble overcame Charles Hydeandrews-bird’s lightning start to claim the Combe Saloons win in his SEAT Leon.