Out of wreckage comes joy for Lloyd

Dan Lloyd put himself through an emotional wringer of financial and physical pain for the best part of two weeks, and then everything came flooding out as he crossed the finish line at Croft last Sunday. He was a deserving, popular and hard-fighting British Touring Car Championship race winner for the first time in four years, and the tears flowed freely – and not just from him either. Then, a couple of hours later, he did it all over again, as if winning BTCC races was a habit.

Two Sundays earlier, Lloyd had left Oulton Park bound for hospital following a 43G impact in a final-race smash with Colin Turkington. In Cheshire, he’d looked a genuine contender for the first time since joining the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai squad for 2022. His form had finally backed up the gut feelings of many in the BTCC, that here was a talented guy who just needed the right opportunity, and that his seat at the Suffolk team alongside the established Tom Ingram was just as tantalising as that of another long-time underdog’s: Jake Hill’s alongside Turkington in the West Surrey Racing BMW line-up.

The accident threatened to ruin that all. Lloyd’s injuries were minor, especially given the circumstances, but he needed to battle back to fitness. And, while the wounded #123 Hyundai i30 N was straightened