Hywel makes his mark on debut — F3 Racing with Hywel Lloyd

Hywel makes his mark on debut

Rising young racing driver Hywel Lloyd made his mark on his Formula Three International Class debut with a points-scoring start in the season’s opener at Oulton Park.

Lloyd became the first Welshman to compete at this level in over 20 years when he rocketed off from the start at the Cheshire track.

The CF Racing Team driver was in a lowly 13 place on the grid after a left rear puncture slowed him in qualifying but his flying start carried him to eighth almost immediately.

The 24-year-old from Corwen was pressing Irishman Wayne Boyd and Lloyd’s Mugen Honda powered car had the edge on the straights but Boyd managed to hold him off on the corners in a fascinating duel. Unable to get past Lloyd himself came under pressure from Oliver Oakes but was able to hold him off comfortably to pick up three points for his final eighth place.

After the race Lloyd admitted: “Yes, I am pleased. I got a good start but then although I was quicker on the straights, I couldn’t get past Boyd.

“You lose a lot of downforce at the front when you get within a couple of lengths of the car in front so it was hard to get a run at him.

“But we were quite pleased with the pace we had and it’s nice to get points in our first race because moving into the International Class is a big step up for the team.”

After an improved performance in the second race qualifier, Lloyd started ninth on the grid but he had problems with the clutch at the start and dropped down the order.

He was reprieved when the race had to be restarted after a first corner incident but again he was slowly away and had to fight his way up from 16th.

He cut his way through to 11th, just one place outside the points, before eventually latching on to the back of Spanish driver Victor Garcia.

Lloyd was all over Garcia who resisted fiercely and even a last gasp bid by the Welshman failed by inches as the two cars crossed the line almost side by side.

After the race Lloyd summed up: “I almost stalled at the start and I was last at the first corner so it was a bit frustrating, but it’s really difficult to overtake at Oulton Park.

“We were up to two seconds a lap behind the quickest just a couple of weeks ago and now we’ve got that down to six-tenths.

“It’s too early to talk about winning races because there’s still an awful lot of work to do but we’re determined to close that gap and everyone is working really hard to do that.”

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