As part of the Sunoco Daytona Challenge prize, Kaiser completed two days of testing with Doran Racing with Brian Frisselle and team regular Brad Jaeger, and impressed both car owner Kevin Doran and driver coach Guy Cosmo.
Severely jet-lagged as he only returned from the last round of the Radical Masters Sunday evening before flying across the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, Kaiser not only had to learn how to drive a left-hand-drive DP car but also master a track that he had never seen. Also to be considered was that this was the first test with Continental Tire, so the team had very little data for a perfect car set up.
However, the British champion proved to be a quick learner, sharing Doran Racing's No. 77 McDonald's Ford/Dallara with Brian Frisselle and Brad Jaeger.
Despite the challenges, the testing went amazingly well. Kaiser posted the fourth-fastest time on Tuesday afternoon, 1.3 seconds slower than the fastest DP car. Wednesday was hampered by rain until 3 p.m., so he drove only eight laps in the afternoon on used tires. Despite this he posted a time only 0.8 seconds off Brian Frisselle's time set on new slicks and only 0.98 seconds off the fastest time - also set on new tires.
"Ross's driving style seemed to fit the Daytona Prototypes right off," said Doran, a multi-time winner of the Rolex 24. "Ross's speed was right there from early on, so that he and the team worked on laps for familiarity and driver comfort throughout most of the test time."
At VIR, experience race instructor and DP driver Guy Cosmo helped Kaiser as his personal race instructor and mentor.
"As a driver I know how difficult it is to fly half-way across the globe, get no sleep, meet 20 new people, learn a track you've never seen before, hop in a car you've never driven before - and try to perform," Cosmo said. "Ross did all of this with flying colours."
Comparing VIR with European circuits, Kaiser felt VIR is very much like a smaller version of Spa with plenty of fast sweeping corners, low speed hairpins and plenty of undulations, and Cosmo was very impressed with Ross's performance on the track.
"At the end of the first day, Ross was turning lap times that put him in the top four of the Daytona Prototype category and through this process he never turned a wheel wrong," Cosmo said. "Ross is going to be very impressive at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and he's certainly deserving of the opportunity."
Kaiser's team for the Rolex 24 is expected to be announced in the near future. His next American test will be Dec. 1-2 with his Rolex 24 team at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In the meantime, Kaiser is training hard to prepare for the Rolex At Daytona, preparing for the new track with the help of iRacing - a computer simulation programme..
‘This is a dream come true really," Kaiser said. "With our season all over in the UK all of my attention is on the Rolex 24. It's a fantastic event. Without Daytona and Sunoco this event wouldn't be available to me so I'm looking forward to racing in one of the biggest events in the world- you get the broadest cover of drivers from all disciplines - it's the best of the best."
