“I knew that winning was possible in the first race, ” said Lloyd, making his debut in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon Systems/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. “I knew I was going to have a very strong car and a very good opportunity. But the difficult thing is when you have that opportunity to make it happen straightaway and come out there and win the first race and the pressure is on. And we were able to do that, which is a great confidence boost.
“Of course, this is my first race win on an oval. It crosses that sort of boundary, if there ever was one, in winning on an oval. So that was very good. It all worked out very well. We had a few ups and downs at practice and qualifying where things didn’t quite go to plan, but it went together for the race, which is the most important thing. “
Lloyd, of Manchester, England, finished seventh in the 2006 Indy Pro Series standings with AFS Racing despite missing three races with a vestibular disorder. In 2004-05, he competed in Euro F3000 and selected Italian F3000 events.
Last year, Sam Schmidt Motorsports won the driver championship with Jay Howard, another driver whose forte is road racing. Communication, preparedness and training goes a long way in developing consistent race winners.
“The great thing in coming to Sam Schmidt Motorsports is they have a lot of success on ovals, ” he said. “They have a lot of success on road courses as well, but they’ve won a lot of races on the ovals, they’ve won championships in this series before. I really felt like my relative inexperience on ovals was sort of made up for by their experience, and they could really give me a lot of guidance in how to get the best out of the car and how to race well.
“So I felt like I’d done more racing on ovals than I actually had, to be honest. So I came in with a lot of confidence and really used their experience, Sam Schmidt’s obvious experience in Indy cars to my advantage. I think that helps a lot. When we come into St. Petersburg, which is now more of what I’m used to in road courses, I’ve raced there twice before, I feel very strong because, you know, I’ve raced these cars at that track.
“So we’re all looking very good. I know we should have a good car. A lot of our preseason testing has been development towards St. Pete. I’m looking forward to see how that goes. ”
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