‘I made as much progress as I could’ – Lloyd believes ‘the pace is there’ after Shanghai recovery

Ella Lloyd bounced back from a disappointing Qualifying performance to reach the top five in Race 2 at the Shanghai International Circuit, giving her hope that she can target stronger results going forward/.

It was a struggle for the McLaren driver to break into the top half of the field in Friday’s competitive Qualifying session, leaving her with the challenge of starting both races from 10th on the grid.

However, the comeback got off to a flying start as she capitalised on Alba Larsen sustaining damage to her car and improved to take P7 at the chequered flag in Race 1, earning an additional point for the fastest lap too.

Lloyd carried that momentum into Race 2 as she came out on top in an early three-way battle with Rafaela Ferreira and Lisa Billard. Her charge through the pack paid off with a fifth place finish, adding another 10 points to take her total to 13.

“I think it obviously ended better than it started,” she later summarised. “Qualifying wasn’t really the best. We did have the pace in Qualifying but kind of didn’t really put it together, so a bit unfortunate.

“The pace is there and obviously we made up places. We made some good overtakes and hopefully we can put it together for Qualifying wherever we end up next.”

The McLaren junior’s recovery drive was part of a superb weekend for Rodin Motorsport as Emma Felbermayr secured a podium and victory, providing Lloyd with a benchmark for the performance the team can extract.

READ MORE: Huntingford praises Felbermayr’s hard work in stellar weekend for Rodin

Due to the recent confirmation that the round in Jeddah will not take place in April, her next chance to return to the rostrum will come in Montreal, where she scored a hat trick of podiums last season.

“I think if I had a bit of a better Qualifying and started higher up then I could’ve probably challenged for a podium but it is what it is,” she added. “At the end of the day, I started where I started and I made as much progress as I could. I scored some points so that’s the main thing.

“Last year we had some good success (in Montreal) – we had three podiums so I’m excited to be back. Obviously I’m going to have to prepare like I did last year and just try to put everything together in Qualifying.”