Richard Westbrook

Richard Westbrook continued his dream month of May with victory in the second round of the FIA GT Championship at the Italian circuit of Adria on Saturday evening. It came hard on the heels of a win in the opening round at Silverstone, and success in the Porsche Supercup at Spain’s

Circuit de Catalunya, meaning that he has sprayed the champagne three weekends on the trot. The British Porsche superstar once again hooked up with top French racer Emmanuel Collard to pilot their ProSpeed Competition Porsche 997GT3-RSR into the winners’ circle, and put themselves 10 points clear of the opposition after just two races.

But Londoner Westbrook and Collard were up against it. As well as carrying 50kg of ballast as ‘platinum drivers’, they had a further 20kg thanks to their win at Silverstone, making things very difficult on the very twisty Adria circuit. “It was painful in qualifying with all that weight,” said Westbrook. “But we managed to do much better than we expected. We were only sixth fastest but we never expected to be just two tenths of a second off pole position, so we were pleased with that.”

Westbrook used all the sharp racing skills accrued from taking two Porsche Supercup titles by jumping instantly to second place at the start. “I made a really good start and got around the outside of a few people, and ended up second after the first corner. Then Martin Ragginger, who
was leading, and me pulled out 20 seconds on the others.”

All looked good, until the ProSpeed Porsche lost 15 seconds at its first pitstop. “They lost a wheelnut, so when ‘Manu’ went back out he got caught behind a Ferrari,” said Richard. When the Ferrari pitted, Collard was left in the clear for three super-quick laps before handing back to Westbrook.

“When I came back out, thanks to ‘Manu’, I had a seven-seconds advantage, and it stayed like that to the end. And without the problem in the first pitstop it would have been even more comfortable. The car was absolutely superb over a race distance. The team have really nailed it, and this is our trump card at the moment. We’re not lightning quick over one lap – the weight doesn’t help that – but our race pace is great.”

Despite such a great start to the season, Westbrook knows the team has to keep an eye out for Ferrari’s reigning champions, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander. “They’re in arguably the best GT Ferrari team in the world and they’re always going to be a threat. We’re making full use of our advantage at the moment, but there’s a long way to go.”

That includes the next round at Oschersleben on June 21, when Westbrook and Collard will have to carry even more success ballast, adding up to 90kg! In the meantime, the Brit will try to make it four wins out of four this weekend in the Porsche Supercup’s glamour round at Monte Carlo. “I’m trying not to get carried away by this success,” he said, “but I’d love to win there for the first time.”