It proved to be a tough season’s opener in the European Le Mans Series for the 360 Racing crews.
From the word go the Paul Ricard circuit strongly favoured the straightline speed of the rival Norma chassis, compared with the Ligier JSP3’s run by the rest of the LMP3 class.
Only one Ligier managed to break into the top six after qualifying, which left both Ross Kaiser and James Winslow struggling. They finished the session only 1000th of a second apart with Winslow just having the edge as 10th quickest to Kaiser’s 11th.
“We hadn’t had much running in free practice with stoppages and the wheels were out of balance in qualifying, but we just didn’t have the pace,” Kaiser admitted.
In the opening stint Winslow had settled in seventh, with Wayne Boyd’s United Autosports Ligier between him and Kaiser.
Winslow had managed to climb to fifth as the first stop was due and the opening hour was completed, he handed to John Corbett for the second stint.
Kaiser had also made progress and was in sixth as he pitted, but unlike the sister car, he stayed in for a double stint, as he and Corbett settled back into fifth and sixth respectively.
