Quaife and Hall take 5th in Race 1

19 April 2008

Phil Quaife and Stuart Hall made a strong debut for Apex Motorsport in the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone with a fifth placed finish in race 1 on Saturday.

A superb qualifying performance from Quaife saw the 22-year-old put the team's Jaguar XKR on the front row of the 43-car field for race 1, just over a tenth off the pole time of Michael Fosten's Porsche 997.

At the start Quaife made the perfect start to lead on lap 1 and had pulled out a healthy advantage when he hit some oil at Stowe, ran wide, and saw his lead wiped out. Light drizzle then hit Silverstone and, with the Jaguar suffering more than most in the wet, Quaife dropped to third before pitting to hand to Hall.

As the rain became heavier, the XKR dropped to sixth, but a penalty for one of the Porsches ahead saw them finish fifth and secure a healthy points haul.

Quaife and Hall will start race 2 from 15th on Sunday.

Full race report to follow.