Daniel Lloyd will carry additional support from a very special competition winner when his assault on the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship resumes this weekend at Croft.
The North Yorkshire venue holds fond memories for Huddersfield racer Daniel, who scored his maiden BTCC victory at the circuit back in 2018 and then secured a dramatic double win last year just two weeks after one of the biggest accidents of his racing career.
Daniel returns to the circuit this time around looking to build on a productive mid-season test with his Team HARD Cupra at Donington Park, where the four-time race winner and the team were able to work through an extensive programme designed to extract more performance from the all-new car.
On the back of that test, Daniel makes the trip to Croft in confident mood, with his goal being to try and consistently run inside the top ten and push for three strong results.
Daniel will also be cheered on from afar by the winner of a special competition run at the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, which he has supported for a number of years.
The competition saw children at the hospice invited to design a special one-off pair of race boots kindly provided by HRX, which Daniel would then wear over the course of a race weekend.
Six-year-old James, who suffers from a heart problem and a neurological condition, was the lucky winner who spent an afternoon with Daniel painting the boots which will now be worn at Croft before being put into a special display case and given away through a raffle to raise funds for the hospice.
Daniel will also offer up one of his BTCC trophies as a prize, with tickets available for £5 each through donations to a special Justgiving page set up specifically for the competition.
“I’m really excited about the prospect of getting back behind the wheel in anger this weekend at Croft, and I’d say I feel the most confident I have felt so far this season going into a race meeting,” he said.
“We went into the summer test at Donington Park with a number of things that we wanted to try out away from the pressures of a race weekend and it proved to be a hugely productive day.
“There are various bits that we found that I think we will benefit from when we get to Croft and I’m confident that we’ll be able to take a step forwards as a result. Obviously it’s a circuit where I have good memories from the past, and I’m keen to try and put on a good show to kick-off the second half of the year.
“It’s going to be a particularly special weekend because I’ll be wearing the special boots designed following the competition at the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, which everyone knows is a charity close to my heart.
“I had the idea to do this a while ago, and it was a real honour to spend time with James and his mum Laura whilst he painted his design on the boots.
“Although he is unable to speak and faces a number of challenges in his life, he was an amazing boy who is full of life and hopefully his design will prove to be a good luck charm when we hit the track!”
