Both of the 360 Racing Ligier JSP3s came away from the Silverstone European Le Mans Series round with the season’s best result, so it was celebrations all round.
Ross Kaiser/Terrence Woodward/James Dayson grabbed a late fourth and Andreas Laskaratos/John Corbett/James Winslow came home sixth.
With the first free practice session of the weekend cut short after another team’s accident, both crews were still seeking the ultimate setup for the race during free practice 2. “We managed to get out and scrub some tyres in for the race towards the end though,” said Kaiser. “I think we did enough to get the setup right for qualifying, but Ross will be doing his best for pole position as it’s our home race,” Woodward added.
Kaiser managed to get out onto the track first in the 10 minute qualifying session. “The team did a good job to get me out there first, and I had hoped to be on pole. On my quickest lap there was nothing left in the tyres in the final sector. I thought I could maybe go again, but it proved to be the end of the session. We had changed the setup a bit but will revert back again for the race,” he said after qualifying fifth.
Laskaratos had qualified the second car, as their pro driver James Winslow hadn’t been to Silverstone for four years and only had a couple of free practice laps under his belt prior to qualifying.
“I didn’t feel any pressure, it’s in my DNA. It wasn’t an easy job though and I felt the car is still coming together to find the right setup. I’m happy with my time though,” said Laskaratos.
Rain was anticipated, though, as the 14-car class lined up on the grid for the four hour enduro, with Kaiser and Laskaratos taking the opening stints from fifth and 13th.
Both cars managed to get through a scrappy start, with Kaiser improving to fourth and attacking David Droux’s Realteam Norma for third, before sneaking ahead at the Hairpin on lap three.
But only four laps into the race the rain began to fall, prompting most of the crews to head for the pits and wet tyres.
Kaiser pitted from second place, but Laskaratos elected to stay out on slicks and suddenly found himself in fourth place. “I would have stayed on slicks, but the rain got heavier and then I was called in for wets,” Kaiser explained.
15 minutes into the race and it was still raining, with Laskaratos in fifth and Kaiser sixth. But the wet tyres began to play their part and Kaiser was back to fourth with Lahaye’s Ultimate Norma in sights for third.
Both Lahaye and Kaiser continued to progress into second and third, but the rain had stopped and the track was drying. Kaiser had started to close in on class leader Mikkel Jensen’s Eurointernational Ligier, before the gap opened again as his rivals slicks came into play.
