Lloyd could be forced out of rest of BTCC season after heavy smash

Lloyd’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N collided with the Toyota of Ricky Collard on the opening lap of the final race as they battled for third position, and then ricocheted back onto the circuit after hitting the barriers.

The Hyundai was collected heavily by the West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport of Colin Turkington, who was unsighted until the last moment when Lloyd’s team-mate Tom Ingram took evasive action and speared off to the right.

Both cars were heavily damaged, with Lloyd taking a further hit from Michael Crees’s Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.

While Turkington escaped with soreness and whiplash, Lloyd was taken to hospital for X-rays on a suspected broken rib, and was discovered to have a bruised lung and swellings.

“It was very scary,” Lloyd told Autosport. “I can remember everything really clearly from when I was spinning.

“I hit the barrier first, and when I was in the middle of the track that was the scary part, because the cars are in fifth gear, maybe even sixth at that part.

“I saw cars flying either side, and I was bracing myself, and then I got hit very very hard, and I got another hit [from Crees] just for good measure at the end.

“I was in shock, but thanks to the medical team who did such a great job looking after me.

“I kept getting some shooting pains from my ribs, and they were worried that they were cracked, so I went to get them checked. The doctors didn’t think my lungs sounded right, so they did a CT scan.

“I just feel really lucky that it was towards the front of my car that was hit, not the side, but the damage is even worse than what we expected.

“It was a serious incident and it’s made a huge impact to my budget – I’ve got a meeting with the team first thing on Tuesday to discuss options, and the goal is to be out for the next round at Croft, but it’s not a good situation financially at the moment.”

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com Hyundai i30N, Daniel Lloyd, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com Hyundai i30N, Colin Turkington, Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport and Michael Crees, CarStore with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra crash

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Turkington said that there was little he could do to avoid the impact.

“I’ve watched it back and replayed it in my mind many times,” he told Autosport. “Could I have done anything different?

“I had no idea something had kicked off ahead. I was tucked up right underneath Tom, and he was the last one to successfully make an evasive reaction.

“Also what went against me is I’m sitting on the left-hand side of the car and Tom’s sitting on the right, and the next thing I knew there was a car stranded in the middle of the track. Before I even hit Dan, I knew it was going to hurt because I’d just got off the throttle.

“The positives are we’ve walked away just a bit sore – we’ve seen these things come out a lot worse.

“But I’m upset about my race car, because I know it’s not in a pretty place at the moment – I knew that as soon as made the contact, it just felt like it died. The boys only got it back at the factory at 11am today, and we’ll know soon what can be done.”

Collard was unhappy with the initial contact with Lloyd, in which his Speedworks Motorsport-run Corolla appeared to be hemmed in between the Hyundai and the grass as Lloyd attempted to move across and claim the inside line into the chicane.

The incident will be investigated at the next round at Croft.

“As we exited the hairpin I had good traction, and I had Josh Cook right behind me giving me a little bump-draft,” said Collard.

“Dan came over and rubbed his right-rear against my left-front corner, and that caused a horrible crash, and I hope everyone is OK.

“My wheels were on the white line, he was hitting me and I didn’t know what to do – I couldn’t brake because I’d get hit up the back.”

Daniel Lloyd, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com Hyundai i30N

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Lloyd explained: “There was contact between my rear bumper and Ricky’s front bumper.

“It was only very small, and as soon as the contact happened I was trying to steer away from it – I kept turning as much as I could but the car wasn’t doing anything. The cars were stuck – it was just one of those moments.

“I’ve got bruised lungs, bruised ribs, I’m sore round my limbs and I’ve got swollen knackers.

“I just want to say a huge thanks to the fans and everyone in the BTCC paddock. I’ve really been taken aback by the amount of support everyone has given me – it’s massively appreciated.”