Victory for Ross Kaiser at Paul Ricard
“To finish first, first you have to finish”. Proving that the age old adage in motor racing still runs true, Ross Kaiser took his first victory of the season with an excellent performance in the 34?C heat of southern France at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet on Saturday.Qualifying 5th for Race 1, Ross (Car 27) maintained a solid pace throughout the race and made his way up to third place, only a few seconds off the leaders with only a couple of laps remaining. However, on the last lap, Ange Barde and John Bosch both had problems and Ross was perfectly placed to take victory when the chequered flag waved.
An ecstatic Ross Kaiser said, “I was pushing hard all through the race, and the car was working fantastically; my pace was good, but I couldn’t quite catch the guys ahead of me. I was about to settle for another third place when they both had problems and I was perfectly placed to take advantage – so it was an incredible feeling to come round that last corner and see the chequered flag. Now I know what it’s like to win, I can’t wait to do it again!”
In addition to a fantastic result in the Trofeo Pirelli, the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB was well represented in the Coppa Shell, with three drivers: Borislav Maleti? (Car 89), Geoff Farmer (Car 103) and new member of the team, Pater Bamford in Car 108. Borislav continued his excellent progression towards the front of the grid, with another good qualifying session that saw him start Race 1 in 14th and finish a credible 12th place; in Race 2 he qualified and finished in 16th place. Geoff Farmer struggled with the set up of the car and qualified 22nd, but had to exit Race 1 early after an incident involving another car; however, in Race 2 on Sunday, Geoff managed to improve dramatically from 22nd starting position to finish in the points in 10th place.
Peter Bamford, in his very first Ferrari Challenge race, qualified 28th out of 33 for Race 1, but made steady progress through the field to finish 23rd – and was very pleased to have made it through the melee of the first corner and finish the race. In Race 2 on Sunday, Peter managed to improve on his 27th qualifying position to finish the race in 24th.
After an exciting weekend’s racing, Peter Bamford said, “It was incredible to be out here with all these other Ferraris actually racing each other – I’ve worked hard over the last two months with the Ferrari GB team, through the Fiorano Ferrari programme to get ready to go racing, and can hardly believe I’m actually here doing it. It’s amazing to see what Ferrari can offer its customers that no other manufacturer can – they can take you from buying a car you can drive on the road, to learning how to drive on a race track, to actually coming racing in the Challenge series. It’s fantastic!”
Ferrari GB Managing Director Massimo Fedeli said ‘Once again Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB have proved they can set the standard, both on the track with an excellent win for Ross in the Trofeo Pirelli category and bringing Peter Bamford, a Ferrari customer, through the Fiorano Ferrari programme to compete in the ultimate lifestyle racing series – the Ferrari Challenge. We were also joined this weekend by dealer staff and customers from the three UK dealers who are supporting the team, with several customers driving their Ferraris from the UK to the south of France to enjoy the weekend at Paul Ricard and the fantastic weather and hospitality in the south of France.”
The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB will now prepare the cars for another exciting and hopefully successful race weekend at the Nürburgring in Germany on 1, 2, 3 September, where Ross Kaiser is confident of another excellent finish at a circuit he knows well.