BTCC Silverstone: Lloyd takes win as Hamilton escapes fire

Dan Lloyd took victory in a British Touring Car Championship opener at Silverstone that was abbreviated by a fire for Nicolas Hamilton.

Lloyd was the last of four leaders during a thrilling opening two laps, and was holding on at the front when Hamilton parked beside the Wellington Straight as an oil fire took hold of his Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon on the 17th lap of the intended 24.

Mercifully, the disabled Hamilton was able to clamber out of the Cupra unaided, and the race ran out with the competitors circulating behind the safety car.

Daryl DeLeon made a good getaway from pole position aboard his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport, while team-mate Jake Hill attempted to round the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport of front-row qualifier Gordon Shedden at Copse Corner.

That served only to allow Lloyd a run at Hill, and the Restart Racing Hyundai i30 N Fastback moved into third position at Becketts.

Shedden then attacked leader DeLeon, the two running side by side at Copse on the second lap. Lloyd followed the Toyota past the BMW, which then locked up at Becketts and dropped to fifth.

Straight away Lloyd hunted down Shedden, diving down the inside of the Brooklands left-hander to grab the lead.

Daniel Lloyd, Restart Racing Hyundai i30N (Photo by: JEP)

A couple of fastest laps allowed Lloyd to eke out a margin, before Hill passed Shedden for second place at Copse Corner on the fifth lap and began to home in on the leading Hyundai.

The gap ebbed and flowed depending on TOCA Turbo Boost usage, with Lloyd having the full 12 laps of deployment to the nine of Hill.

By the time the safety car emerged, Lloyd had two laps left of TTB, with Hill on just one and Shedden armed with three, the Scot speculating that “it could have been quite fruity between the three of us” had the race run its course.

While this was the fifth victory of Lloyd’s BTCC career, it was the first for Restart Racing, the Independent team that only entered the series at the beginning of 2024.

“This one’s just as, if not more, special to be honest,” said a tearful Lloyd. “I’m very, very emotional as I always am. It’s been a tough year, but we’ve kept going and going.

“It was a mega start to the race. I’d love it to have not finished behind the safety car, but I don’t care in the end!”

Senna Proctor ran with the leading trio for the first half of the race in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai, but then dropped back and, by the time of the safety car, he was having to fend off the WSR BMW of Aiden Moffat.

Daniel Lloyd, Restart Racing Hyundai i30N (Photo by: JEP)

In turn, Moffat had Josh Cook’s Speedworks Toyota on his rear bumper, Cook recovering from a nerf from Proctor at Becketts on the opening lap.

In the wake of the leading six cars, all on soft Goodyear ‘option’ tyres, came the leading medium-shod runners: championship leader Tom Ingram and main rival Ash Sutton.

Dan Rowbottom flew the medium standard in the early laps, running as high as fifth in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST while team-mate Sutton and the Excelr8 Hyundai of Ingram fought through from their mid-grid starting positions.

Ingram used a Becketts clash between Sutton and Charles Rainford to leapfrog the four-time champion, but Sutton was right behind before the race went under the safety car. The result means Ingram has inched his championship-leading margin out from 32 points to 33.

The top 10 was completed by Rowbottom and Adam Morgan (Excelr8 Hyundai). DeLeon faded to 13th in the results, with a tyre blowing out after the finish.

BTCC Silverstone - Race 1 results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	D. Lloyd Restart Racing			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	25	27'10.741
2	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330i M Sport	25	+0.519 27'11.260	0.519
3	G. Shedden Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	+1.367 27'12.108	0.848
4	S. Proctor Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	25	+1.701 27'12.442	0.334
5	J. Cook Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	+2.389 27'13.130	0.688
6	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR			BMW 330i M Sport	25	+2.672 27'13.413	0.283
7	T. Ingram Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	25	+3.787 27'14.528	1.115
8	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	25	+6.249 27'16.990	2.462
9	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	25	+6.972 27'17.713	0.723
10	A. Morgan Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	25	+7.472 27'18.213	0.500
11	A. Taylor-Smith Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	+10.046 27'20.787	2.574
12	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	25	+11.043 27'21.784	0.997
13	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing			BMW 330i M Sport	25	+17.555 27'28.296	6.512
14	C. Rainford LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR			BMW 330i M Sport	25	+19.395 27'30.136	1.840
15	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	25	+19.933 27'30.674	0.538
16	M. Buxton Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	+20.772 27'31.513	0.839
17	D. Patterson ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport			Cupra León	25	+21.045 27'31.786	0.273
18	N. Halstead Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	25	+21.871 27'32.612	0.826
19	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	25	+23.112 27'33.853	1.241
20	T. Chilton Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	24
21	M. Doble Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	22
dnf	N. Hamilton Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock			Cupra León	16				Retirement
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