Daniel Lloyd goes into the final two rounds of the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship a couple of weeks from now maintaining a top six placing in the title race despite a challenging, and somewhat confusing, outing at Silverstone over the weekend, 6th/7th October.

With a best finish of ninth place overall in the second of the two races on Sunday, round 18, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Scholar was left searching for answers as his Porsche 911 appeared to be struggling for pace in a straight line.

Qualifying didn’t go as the 20-year-old wanted and although only 0.4 seconds shy of pole position, the difference on the short 1.64-mile National Circuit was such it meant Daniel would line up an uncharacteristic ninth on the grid for both encounters.

When the first of Sunday’s races got underway – after a delay due to fog covering the circuit – the Huddersfield youngster held station following a decent getaway and started to pressure Sam Tordoff. On lap four at Becketts, a spin for Jonas Gelzinis enabled Daniel to move into eighth and on lap five he moved into seventh past Tordoff.

No sooner had the Team Parker Racing driver edged ahead of his team-mate though, he then became the target for attack but seemed able to manage a small gap over Tordoff as the race passed mid-distance.

Then, into lap 18, everything went awry for the TNT Post, TSD, Creechurch Private Wealth, Propack and TPA Yorkshire-supported driver when his Porsche slowed across the start/finish line as a result of a shattered wheel-nut – instantly eliminating him from the race.

Hopeful of a resurgent round 18, Daniel made a good getaway and moved into eighth when James Sutton was forced to retire on lap eight. As the race wore on though, Daniel began to lose time on the straights and couldn’t remain in touch with the cars ahead. This was then compounded by a five second time penalty after he was deemed to have exceeded track limits – dropping him to ninth.

“It’s really confusing what the problem might be but we definitely struggled to stay in touch on the straights”, explained Daniel, “We thought we’d found the problem after Saturday, everything looked more positive in the first race before the wheel problem as the data was better but in the second race I was losing time to the cars in front in a straight line – fractions are all it takes.

“I’m not sure if there’s something wrong somewhere with the engine or gears, whatever I seemed to do, whatever revs I changed gear at, the others just pulled a gap in a straight line. It’s a bit of a vicious circle then as you begin to over-drive a bit. It’s not been a good weekend but hopefully we’ll be back where we should be at Brands Hatch to end the season on a high.”

 The final two races of Daniel’s maiden season in Porsche Carrera Cup GB, rounds 19 and 20, will take place at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent just two weeks from now on 20th/21st October.

 Follow Daniel on Twitter @Daniellloyd23 and for the latest news visit www.daniellloydracing.com

 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship Driver Standings (after Rd18): 6th Daniel Lloyd, 175pts