Richard Lloyd: 1945-2008.

Richard Lloyd, who has died at the age of 63, was a major figure on the British motorsport scene, both as a racer and then as a highly respected team owner.

Lloyd started his racing career in 1967 when he competed in a Triumph TR4 before moving into the British Touring Car Championship in the 1970's, first of all with a Chevrolet Camaro and then an Opel Commodore.

In 1977, Lloyd formed his own team - GTi Engineering - and enjoyed his most successful BTCC campaign the following season as he finished second overall in the standings a the wheel of a VW Golf GTi.

Lloyd's team remained in the series until 1980, running an Audi 80 for Sir Stirling Moss before moving into sportscars for 1981; the team debuting at Monza and securing a first class win later in the year at Monza running the Porsche 924.

For 1983, the team moved over to the Group C specification Porsche 956, securing a podium finish in only its second race with the car at Silverstone. A first win followed in 1984, also on home soil but this time at Brands Hatch.

Having undergone a name change to Richard Lloyd Racing, the team finished second in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1985, with Lloyd joined at the wheel by fellow Briton's Jonathan Palmer and James Weaver.

Lloyd and his team continued to run the 956 until the end of 1986 before switching to the Porsche 962 and team remained in sportscars until the end of 1990, when a lack of budget forced the team to shelve its plans for the following year.

Lloyd himself won the Porsche 924 Championship in 1993 as the team focused on other projects before a return to the BTCC scene in 1996 - as Lloyd's team was given the honour of running the factory Audi Sport UK team.

In three seasons in the BTCC, the team secured a stunning 52 podium finishes in just 76 races, with Frank Biela dominating the 1996 season with the four-wheel drive Audi A4 Quattro.

Biela finished second in the 1997 season behind Alain Menu, despite being forced to carry a weight penalty on his car, but in 1998, Yvan Muller and John Bintcliffe were forced to run without four-wheel drive after it was outlawed in the regulations - and the team left the series at the end of the year.

The focus then turned back to sportscars with the Audi R8 before turning its focus to Bentley. Now known as Apex Motorsports, the team took a one-two finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2003, with Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith taking victory by two laps from the sister car of Johnny Herbert, David Brabham and Mark Blundell.

The business and assets of the team was put up for sale in February 2006 but was then relaunched later that year as Lloyd was joined by new partner Harry Handkammer to develop a Jaguar XKR for the new European GT3 Championship.

The car made its debut in the Britcar 24 Hours last season and also took in the final rounds of the British GT Championship ahead of the 2008 campaign, when Apex was set to finally give the team its belated debut at FIA GT3 level.

He leaves a wife, Philippa, and three daughters.