Lloyd completes deal for BTCC return with Restart

4-time British Touring Automotive Championship race winner Dan Lloyd has lastly cemented his sequence return in 2025 on the wheel of a Restart Racing Hyundai.

The 32-year-old Yorkshireman dropped off the grid final season within the wake of the collapse of Staff Exhausting after the 2023 marketing campaign, and spent the 12 months racing within the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

In becoming a member of Restart, Lloyd reunites with a few of his previous associates from his BTCC profession. Staff principal Ben Taylor and team-mate Chris Smiley have been each at BTC Racing in 2018 when Lloyd claimed his maiden race victory within the sequence, managing director Pete Jones was a sponsor at Excelr8 Motorsport when he scored his different three wins in 2022, and race engineer Tom Hunt sorted him when he raced the Exhausting Cupra Leon in 2023.

With Restart making the swap for 2025 to new-build, Excelr8-built Hyundai i30 N Fastbacks, which exchange the ex-Exhausting Cupras it fielded in its maiden BTCC season in 2024, Lloyd additionally finds himself again in the identical mannequin of automobile with which he loved his most profitable marketing campaign.

“I’m completely buzzing to be again on the BTCC grid with Restart Racing,” mentioned Lloyd. “The final 12 months have been a rollercoaster – I’ve needed to struggle more durable than ever to get again thus far, however that’s solely made me hungrier.

“When Pete Jones contacted me concerning the seat and the funding within the automobile, I knew precisely the place I needed to be. I do know what the Hyundai is able to and, with the crew’s dedication to the very best bundle potential, I’m assured we will be proper within the combine this season.

“Tom Hunt has a implausible pedigree from his time with Staff Dynamics, so having that familiarity and expertise alongside me is one other massive optimistic. I can’t wait to get to work and see what we are able to obtain collectively.”

Jones added: “From the second we secured the Hyundai i30s for 2025, we knew we wanted a powerful driver pairing to unlock their full potential.

“Dan was on the prime of our checklist. He’s a confirmed winner, has expertise with this automobile, and his willpower to struggle his manner again onto the grid says all the things concerning the competitor he’s.

“With Dan and Chris main the cost, we’re assured that we’ve got a line-up able to pushing for podiums and delivering sturdy outcomes.

“Greater than that, Dan is one other cornerstone within the long-term imaginative and prescient of Restart Racing. We’re not simply constructing a crew for this season – we’re laying the muse for sustained success within the BTCC, and Dan is a key a part of that journey.”

It’s unclear when Smiley and Lloyd will flip their first laps within the Hyundai equipment, though it’s understood that they are going to be able to go in time for the primary of the pre-season official assessments at Croft on 1-2 April.

Restart crew supervisor joins Un-Restricted

Daryl DeLeon, Duckhams Racing with Un-Restricted Motorsport Cupra Leon

Photograph by: JEP

Whereas Restart is believed to be near bolstering its engineering and administration workers with some firmly established BTCC names for 2025, its 2024 crew supervisor Jamie Warren has switched to Un-Restricted Motorsport, the place he’ll take up an analogous function.

Warren made his title within the BTCC with Staff Exhausting and went with the Cupras to Restart final 12 months. Un-Restricted is the one crew to proceed with that automobile in 2025 because it expands to 2 entries, with sequence returnee Dexter Patterson becoming a member of Mini Problem standout Max Corridor.

Staff proprietor Bob Sharpless mentioned: “We’ve made large strides in a brief period of time, and we’re not stopping right here. Our aim for 2025 is evident: to extract most efficiency from each vehicles and struggle for sturdy outcomes all through the season.

“Jamie’s expertise in BTCC can be instrumental as we enter our largest problem but. Having him on board now means we are able to hit the bottom operating when the season begins.”