Richard Westbrook was denied at least a top-two finish in the penultimate round of the FIA GT Championship on Sunday when an errant rival punted his co-driver into the gravel.
British works Porsche driver Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard were heading for another excellent result at Zolder in Belgium when the Frenchman was savaged by a Ferrari. read more
Richard Westbrook took a superb second win for Porsche in the FIA GT Championship at Nogaro on Sunday after fighting a thrilling defensive battle against an army of Ferraris.
The Porsche works driver triumphed at the twisty circuit, in the rural French region of Gascony, in his Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3-RSR. Londoner Westbrook qualified on pole position, which came read more
British Porsche star Richard Westbrook was denied a win in the FIA GT Championship at Brno by an engine failure, caused by a first-lap collision suffered by a spinning Maserati.
Westbrook was flying around the challenging circuit in the Czech Republic, which nestles in the rolling forested Moravian hills about 15 minutes outside the city of Brno. He comfortably set the fastest lap, but knew he was living on borrowed time. read more
Richard Westbrook took a fine third place for Porsche on his first visit to Romania for the latest round of the FIA GT Championship. On the Bucharest-Ring street circuit, which passes the amazing Palace of Parliament built by Nicolae Ceausescu, Westbrook and Prospeed Competition co-driver Emmanuel Collard found the massed Ferrari ranks more difficult to depose than the old Communist regime, but still drew heart from a fine result. read more
At his third attempt, British Porsche star Richard Westbrook became a winner in the American Le Mans Series when he drove to victory at Road America on Saturday. Westbrook teamed up with regular ALMS co-driver Dirk Werner plus Bryce Miller, and the trio’s Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 997 GT3-RSR won a thrilling fourhour race.
It was Westbrook’s first time at the leafy Road America circuit in Wisconsin, a three-hour drive from Chicago in a state famed for its cheese production. read more
Porsche works driver Richard Westbrook made it two podium finishes in 24-hour races this year by taking second place at Spa-Francorchamps.
Driving a Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3-RSR with Emmanuel Collard and Marc Lieb, Westbrook followed up his Daytona 24 Hours runner-up spot with second in the Belgian Ardennes hills in a gruelling race.
The result also moved Westbrook and Collard up the leaderboard in the FIA GT Championship, after a run of ill fortune in preceding races.
Prospeed effectively sacrificed qualifying to ensuring a good race set-up. “We were still encountering problems from our previous race at Oschersleben,” said two-time Porsche Supercup champion Westbrook. “We couldn’t get our tyres to last. But we worked hard over practice and pre qualifying to sort that out. Qualifying doesn’t really matter for a 24-hour race – the crucial thing was to make our tyres work for an hour at a time,and by the time we got to the race we were confident we were strong in that department.”
The race took place under a string of showers, meaning that it was a tough job just to keep the car on the circuit. “It was always too wet for slick tyres and too dry for wets,” said Richard. “For my first stint, we stayed out on slicks whereas all the Ferraris came in for wets, and I gained a lot of time. The next time that happened we lost out.
“It was a guessing game with the weather and very difficult for the guys on the pit wall. And it was really tough for the drivers, especially at night – you can feel the track’s wet, but can’t see rain on the windscreen.”
In the end, the Prospeed Porsche was the leading Michelin-shod car behind the winning Ferrari, which gambled on Pirelli intermediates. “The winners drove an excellent race and didn’t put a foot wrong, so they thoroughly deserved it,” said Westbrook.
“The three of us in my car drove as hard as we could and none of us made a mistake. Second was the best we could do unless the leading car broke down. But now I’m starting to understand why most of the other teams have four drivers – I’m so tired!”
Tired or not, Richard now jets off to Road America in rural Wisconsin for this weekend’s American Le Mans Series race in a Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche.
Globetrotting Porsche racing addict Richard Westbrook was denied a maiden American Le Mans Series win at Mid-Ohio on Saturday.
The Londoner was leading the race in his Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 997 GT3-RSR when the pace car appeared to clean up some accident debris. Westbrook was called in to hand over to team mate Dirk Werner at completely the wrong time, leaving Werner one lap down and unable to recover to a better finish than fourth.
Westbrook had charged from second on the grid into the lead when he passed Jaime Melo’s Ferrari. “Me and Melo pulled away from the rest,” said Richard. “I got past him after 25 minutes and then got away from him. About an hour into the race the safety car came out when I was about three seconds in front.
“The safety car came out directly behind me, so I got a full lap on everyone – it was just perfect timing. But there was a miscommunication with the team. They left me out for two laps and then brought me in just as I was about to get the wave to catch the queue up again. Then an airjack didn’t work, so we lost 30 seconds before Dirk rejoined a lap down.”
Team owner Gregory Loles admitted: “It was Christmas in Mid-Ohio and we gave it away. It was our race, and then a strategy blunder put us in a position where we were unable to deliver the potential that the cars and drivers had.” Works Porsche driver Westbrook added: “It was our race, and it was a great performance by the team in terms of pace. We’ve just got to get the little things right, because in the ALMS the competition is so strong that you’ve got no chance if anything goes wrong. There is so much ambition from within this team and we are all desperate for the first win, it’s remarkable we’re challenging regularly in our first season”
Westbrook now gets a week’s break before the next round of the FIA GT Championship, the prestigious Spa 24 Hours, which he will contest with Emmanuel Collard and Marc Lieb in his Prospeed Competition Porsche.
British Porsche star Richard Westbrook made a dream start to his programme of American Le Mans Series races by taking second place at Lime Rock in Connecticut.
On his first visit to the fast, short circuit two hours’ drive from New York, Westbrook led the race in the Farnbacher Loles Porsche 997 GT3-RSR, and felt that he and team-mate Dirk Werner had the potential to claim the team’s first win of the 2008 campaign.
“We were the fastest Porsche by a long way in practice and felt we had a really good advantage,” said Richard. “We were coping with the new track surface better than anyone else – which was proved in qualifying when Dirk got pole position for us.”
Practice had been incident packed, so the team gambled by fitting a soft compound of tyres for qualifying. ALMS rules state that each car has to start the race on the tyres on which it qualified.
With the team expecting many incidents early on, and for resulting safety-car periods, the softer tyre would give greater speed and not fade as quickly as they would under non-stop racing conditions.
“The tyres were amazing for the first three laps,” said Westbrook, who drove the opening stint. “But it was a hundred degrees in the old money, and they were totally gone after that. I led for half an hour, but there was nothing left in the tyres. I just had to do as long a stint as I could, but eventually I was losing two seconds a lap and the team had to bring me in under green-flag conditions and we lost a lap.
“Dirk went out on harder tyres, and of course from that point on, after there’d been no safety car at all in my stint, there were loads!”
Werner brought the car home in second place, beating the team’s previous best finish of the year on Westbrook’s debut. “It’s given us a lot of confidence going into the race at Mid-Ohio this coming weekend. It was a great result were all really proud with second, even if we felt we had the pace to win. There were a lot of smiles after the race.”
Richard Westbrook made the most of a difficult weekend for the Prospeed Competition Porsche team to take fourth place in round four of the FIA GT Championship at Oschersleben.
Porsche works driver Westbrook and co-driver Emmanuel Collard once again took the fight to the numerically dominant Ferraris in their Porsche 997 GT3-RSR at the German track.
Westbrook qualified the car sixth. “We struggled on set-up and never got it together at the right time. We weren’t on top of the car at all,” he said. “To make matters worse, Westbrook and Collard had been excluded from their fifth place in the preceding round at Adria due to a minor homologation mix-up on all of the Porsches, and were therefore consigned to carry success ballast from their Monza win in round two.
Things improved for the race, in which twice Porsche Supercup champion Westbrook drove the first stint. “I have to say the team made a big step for the race and the car felt wonderful for the first few laps. I got up to fourth and was closing on third, but then I could feel the tyres starting to go off. Our set-up was eating the tyres and by the end of a stint ‘Manu’ and I were just hanging on for dear life.”
On new rubber, Collard managed to get closer to the third-place Ferrari ahead in the middle stint, but during the final shift – with Westbrook again at the wheel – the team’s chances of a podium were ruined by the safety car. Westbrook was at the front of the queue when the race restarted, meaning he was almost a lap behind the leading trio.
“That completely stuffed us, but we’d said before the race that fourth was the absolute maximum we could hope for and, without any of the leaders having any trouble, that’s what we got. We learned a lot about the car this weekend – we’ve just got to make sure we use that for the rest of the season.
“And, on the plus side, at least this was the first race of the year in FIA GTs where we didn’t end up in the stewards’ office!”
Westbrook now jets off to the USA to make his American Le Mans Series debut this weekend at the Lime Rock circuit in Connecticut, where he will share a Farnbacher Racing Porsche 997 GT3-RSR with German Dirk Werner. “There was no hesitation on my part when I was asked to do it, and I’m really looking forward to doing four ALMS races, all on circuits that will be new to me.”
www.richardwestbrook.co.uk
British Porsche hero Richard Westbrook was denied a shot at a second successive win in the FIA GT Championship by a malfunctioning headlight during the latest round at Adria.
Even that wouldn’t normally have been a problem, except this race on the Italian circuit was run on Saturday evening into darkness, meaning the officials were understandably keen that Westbrook’s Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR should be fully ‘lit up’.
Following on from their Monza win, Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard were looking very strong. Frenchman Collard started the car, and had a thrilling early battle with the Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni. At the first pitstops, Bruni handed to Toni Vilander and Collard to Westbrook. “We were obviously on a different strategy to them and put more fuel in, because I rejoined 15 seconds behind Vilander,” said Richard. “But I
reeled him in, overtook him and FIA GT 21st June 2008 Adria, Italy pulled away. I still had plenty of laps to go on the fuel, but then I got the black flag and had to pit to fix the light.”
Quick thinking by the Prospeed team meant they installed a torch in the light, and the car was on its way with a one-minute delay. But in the ultra-competitive GT series, there was no way to finish higher than fifth – the team’s final result.
“There is nothing that me or Emmanuel, or the team or Porsche could do anything about the light,” said Westbrook, a two time Porsche Supercup champion. “It’s one to put down to bad luck. Who knows if we could have won? But we do know Emmanuel would have left the pits ahead after the final stop.”
The team’s performance was encouraging, especially as the short, twisty Adria circuit was expected to favour the Ferraris. “The whole team are really pleased we were so competitive,” said Richard. “It was a race we didn’t expect to be challenging for and we thought it would be difficult, but we were surprised it held up. It was a really strong performance by everyone at Prospeed and now we’re really looking forward to the next race at Oschersleben on July 6. We know it’s going to be a season-long battle for the championship”.
Richard Westbrook © 2010
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