The 29-year-old Yorkshireman made his BTCC debut as long ago as 2010 and scored a race win in 2018, but only got his first full season in the series last year with the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra team, after two years as a frontrunner in TCR Europe.
Lloyd used that stability to progress to the point where he scored four podiums across the last three race weekends to elevate himself to 11th in the standings, ahead of two-time title-winning team-mate Jason Plato.
“It’s really exciting,” Lloyd told Autosport. “Last year was my first full season in the BTCC, and that’s just an achievement in itself really, so getting a deal signed this early is just fantastic.
"The amount of years where you think, ‘What the hell am I doing?’, it’s just a breath of fresh air.
“I’m making a big decision to switch from PMR to Excelr8 – there are many reasons in the background, but I’m joining a really strong outfit, and I think me and Tom will be quite strong together. I get on really well with him and I respect him.
“I’m going to learn a lot from him while I get to grips with the car, and I hope we can push him. My goal for this season is definitely to be more of a consistent frontrunner.”
Lloyd, who is the second driver to be confirmed for Excelr8’s four-car Hyundai i30 N squad, was in conversations with numerous teams, but said of the reason to join Excelr8: “They seemed to really want me, which is a big thing.
“They worked really hard with me to make the deal work. And just the fact that I think it’s a strong car and I’ll have a strong team-mate. Also, they’re fantastic from the commercial side, which is what you need in the BTCC.
“I have to thank [Lloyd’s backers] 247 Blinds and Abracs, who are so important for making this happen.”
Excelr8 team owner Justina Williams said: “Although we enjoyed a hugely successful season in 2021, in a series as competitive as the BTCC, you can’t afford to stand still and have to constantly look for ways to improve.
“Bringing Dan into the team alongside Tom as we prepare for the start of the new hybrid era adds further strength to our driver line-up, and we’re confident that he will be able to help us work towards our goals for the year ahead.
“Dan is clearly a quick driver as his results in both the BTCC and elsewhere have shown, but he also has a strong understanding into what is required from a racing programme in a commercial sense.
"We look forward to working with him to make a success of 2022 both on, and off, the track.”Sources indicate that the other two drivers in the Excelr8 line-up are tipped to be BTCC veteran Tom Chilton, along with Chris Smiley staying on for a third season at the wheel of the Hyundai.
BTCC driver line-up so far
Laser Tools Racing Infiniti: Aiden Moffat, Dexter Patterson, TBA
West Surrey Racing BMW: Jake Hill, TBA, TBA
BTC Racing Honda: TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA
Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai: Tom Ingram, Dan Lloyd, TBA, TBA
Motorbase Performance Ford: Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish, Ollie Jackson, Sam Osborne
Team Dynamics Honda: Dan Rowbottom, TBA, TBA
Speedworks Motorsport: Toyota TBA, TBA, TBA
Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall: TBA, TBA
Ciceley Motorsport BMW: Adam Morgan, TBA
Team Hard Cupra: Jack Goff, Aron Taylor-Smith, TBA, TBA
