The 360 Racing trio of Terrence Woodward, Ross Kaiser and James Swift just missed out on a podium finish in their home European Le Mans Series race at Silverstone.
The free practice sessions on Friday had gone fairly well, so hopes were high as the 360 squad went into the morning qualifying session with an eye on a second podium finish of the season.
As usual Ross Kaiser was entrusted with the teams Ligier JSP3 and having secured pole two years ago, Ross was just a whisker away from a repeat performance. The Euro International team Ligier of Dromedari/Drudi just had the edge, snatching pole by 0.046 secs over Kaiser. “A shame we didn’t get pole, but still nice to be on the front row,” he said.
It was a fantastic start and Kaiser had the lead until he was spun by an LMP2 car and left to fight his way back from dead last. “Two LMP2 cars went wide onto the apron at Abbey and forced their way back in at the Loop. One of them caught my rear and spun me out. I managed to keep I running but had to roll back, as I was worried about being t-boned,” he explained.
Fight he did however and by lap 16 he was into the class top 10, after demoting Ponzio’s Oregon Team Norma.
Continuing to close on further targets there were a couple of exchanges with Legeret’s Team YMR Norma, which took him to eighth, but as the first hour was completed the pitstops had begun and Kaiser was up to fifth. “The Norma’s had good straightline speed but not as quick in the corners, so it was difficult to get a tow. I had passed Legeret and was challenging for another place, but lost out to him again in the wash and finally got by again into Becketts,” he said.
