The Porsche-contracted Londoner steered his Farnbacher Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RSR to second place on the road in the Le Mans Series race, but Westbrook and Danish team-mates Allan Simonsen and Lars-Erik Nielsen were promoted to the win when the first-placed car was excluded for a technical infringement.

That was a major surprise for the team, which had struggled for pace during practice and qualifying owing to an illness for team boss and race engineer Horst Farnbacher. “Horst went down with a severe case of food poisoning and he couldn’t engineer the car all weekend,” said Westbrook. “It was Allan’s turn to qualify the car this time and it just wasn’t quick enough – it’s as simple as that.

“So Allan, Lars and I sat down and said, ‘Look, let’s just have a trouble-free race, take no risks and pick up some points, because we’re certainly not going to win it’. As it happened, we hit loads of trouble and ended up winning it!”

Westbrook started the car, and rose up the order to second. Back in for a final double-stint, Richard sought to conserve second place and maybe even challenge for the win. “I was surprised how quick we were,” he said. “But then we picked up some debris while the safety car was out and I got a puncture. 

It was a harsh blow-up and ripped some of the bodywork away.

“After I’d pitted, we got a black-and-orange flag from the officials, ordering me to the pits to repair the bumper. I was thinking, ‘We’re going to be so far down now’, so to be told we’d won was a bit of a shock. But we were due a bit of luck after going out in the first race at Barcelona with accident damage, so I’ll take that. We worked hard, really grafted, and turned it around.”

The win puts Westbrook, Simonsen and Nielsen joint third in the championship, just three points off the lead. “It’s blown the championship wide open,” said Richard. “We were all a bit down after Barcelona, but it’s like the championship’s been reset and we’re all starting again in the next round at Spa in two weeks’ time.”

Westbrook and French co-driver Emmanuel Collard were stricken with suspension damage. “It made the car totally undriveable around right-hand corners,” said the Londoner.

That was a major fall after Westbrook had topped the pre-qualifying session in the Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, before taking second fastest time in qualifying proper.

“We had bad luck in qualifying. It was raining and I was fastest by three seconds, but then we stopped our running and coincidentally the rain stopped. That knocked me off the top of the times.

“We were confident for the race though. Silverstone is usually a Ferrari track and not necessarily suited to the Porsche, so with the new updates to the 911 that means that hopefully we’ll now be strong everywhere.”

Unfortunately, the suspension damage struck early in the race, when Collard was driving. Westbrook took over and struggled to the finish, running on intermediate tyres rather than slicks as the track dried out.

“Even if we’d been on slicks we wouldn’t have done any better,” said Richard. “My first thought was that we were on the wrong tyres, but when we found out about the suspension problem we realised it wouldn’t have been any different. It was just damage-limitation.

“But we got three points and had the pace at a track where we weren’t expected to, so that gives us confidence for the next round at Monza. We’ve just got to go there and claw our way back into the championship. There’s nine rounds to go, so it’s not over yet…”

That Monza race will be on May 18, but Westbrook pays another visit to the home of the Italian Grand Prix this weekend coming, when he contests the second round of the Le Mans Series with the Farnbacher Racing Porsche. 

Westbrook took the lead early in the 1000-kilometre race, but his hopes for victory ended when his co-driver was eliminated in a clash with another car.

The Londoner, winner of the Porsche Supercup title in 2006 and ‘07, was racing a GT2-spec Porsche 911 GT3-RSR for only the second time. He did a superb job to top the times in the last free-practice session, and qualified the Farnbacher Racing-run car third.

“After free practice we made a few changes on the car that we thought would make it better, and they made it terrible!” said Westbrook. “We have to hold our hands up to that.

“But it was a great performance by the team. We were in a 2007 car, and they only put the ‘08 update kit on it one hour before free practice started, so we were really playing catch-up on the others. You could immediately see the improvements Porsche have made over the winter.”

Richard started the car and drove the first two stints, and was able to emerge from the first pitstop with the lead ahead of renowned Porsche star Marc Lieb. Unfortunately, Westbrook’s co-driver Allan Simonsen collected another car in the following stint and the Farnbacher car was retired. “I don’t think it was Allan’s fault - it was unlucky,” said Westbrook.

Even so, Richard was pleased to be able to show his speed. “It was good to put in such a good performance, even though on the bad side we walked away with no points, and with the LMS being only a five-round championship we’ve got our work cut out. But we’re confident we can regroup, especially now that we’ve got a grip on the car and the Michelin tyres.

“Farnbacher are a very good team. I’ve competed against them for the last few years in the Supercup, and they’re probably one of the best Porsche teams in the world. It’s nice to race for them rather than against them!”

Westbrook now has two weeks before the first round of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone, where he will race a similar Porsche 911 GT3-RSR for Prospeed Competition.

Since winning the Supercup back in October last year I haven´t really had a chance to relax. January was unusually busy with the Dubai24h and the Rolex Daytona 24h. In Daytona it was one of the strongest fields ever and having led for most of the race we were all bitterly disappointed to finish 2nd. Unfortunately the sand played havoc with the TRG Porsche and standing on the podium it dawned on me that 2nd is the worse place to finish in a 24hour race. So much effort from the whole team and Porsche goes into winning the race and looking up the step to the winners receiving their Rolex watches didn´t help matters. In February all the Factory drivers were whisked off to the Canary Island for the annual Porsche training camp. Ten days of intensive fitness traing, eight hours a day was a bit of a shock but the atmosphere was great and I really enjoyed meeting all the other drivers. Needless to say there was plenty of practical jokes, particuarly involving my hotel room since I was the new boy - garlic mayonnaise in your toothpaste is really not that nice.

Anyway, back to racing and this weekend see´s the start of the Le Mans series in Barcelona and I´m delighted to be finally racing a Farnbacher car after years of competing against them. They are one of the best Porsche teams in the world and like in the FIA GT Championship, myself, Alan Simonson and Lars Nilson are confident the Porsche GT2 RSR will take us where we want to be.

Richard

Westbrook, who has been newly-contracted as a Porsche works driver, was one of four drivers aboard top American sportscar team The Racers Group’s leading Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racer. They finished second in the hotly-contested GT class, and were the best of the 25 Porsches that started the Florida marathon.

But even that was a disappointment to Londoner Westbrook who, along with American team-mates Andy Lally, Bryce Miller and Ted Ballou, was cruising to victory at the halfway mark.

“After 12 hours we were comfortably in the lead without even pushing,” said Westbrook. “But then we got this engine-cooling problem. Sand had been brought onto the track by cars going off course and rejoining. That started getting into the radiators and mixing with the water to form clay.

“The water and oil temperatures were going sky high, so we had to cut back and turn the engine down.

“Racing with that problem for 12 hours and then finishing second is a good result on reflection, although at the time we were bitterly disappointed because we should have won.”

Two-time Porsche Supercup champion Westbrook enjoyed his maiden outing with the TRG squad. “They are a really good team and I had strong co-drivers who all knew the event well. The race strategy was great and all the ingredients were there for a good result.

“It did seem, though, that as the only Brit in the team I did all my driving either at night or when it started to rain!

“It was a great race. Before our problems, every time I got out of the car we were in the lead. And our car must’ve been the only one without a scratch on it at the end – the rest of the field looked like they’d been in a stock-car race. There were so many battered cars with bumpers hanging off all over the place.”

Westbrook now looks forward to the announcement of his racing plans for the 2008 season with Porsche.

The Staffordshire-based team’s Porsche 997 GT3-RSR will be driven by moral LMS GT2-class co-champion Allan Simonsen, double Porsche Supercup champion Richard Westbrook, 2005 Australian GT champion Bryce Washington and experienced sportscar racer Paul Daniels. The four drivers will race into the night at the classic Interlagos Grand Prix circuit in Sao Paulo in a fitting end to the season.

Car owner Daniels explained: “Joel Camathias, who has driven the car this year, has done a fantastic job but he has a clashing race in the International GT Open series, which he is leading, while Dave Cox, who has also done a great job, has come to the end of his 2007 deal with JWA.”

Danish star Simonsen, who lost his shot at the GT2 title because he had to miss one race, is currently embroiled in a fight for the Australian GT crown with Washington. “I raced with JWA in 2005 and I get on really well with the team,” he said. “For me the important thing is going down to do the job and win the race, to get the 10 points I lost when I couldn’t race at Silverstone.”

Washington, who contested the Nurburgring round of the LMS with JWA in 2006, enthused: “I have great respect for Allan. He is very well-regarded in Australia and around the world - racing against him and with him is a huge bonus for me as a driver.

“I learned heaps at the Nurburgring last year, and really got the bug to drive overseas. GT is really something I would love to do full-time in Europe if I can put something together. Also, to race at Interlagos is great, because I was a massive fan of Ayrton Senna and it was his home track. To drive such a brilliant car like this at such a famous track will be very special.”

Englishman Westbrook, like the others, has never raced at Interlagos. And, while he is the world master of the lower-spec 997 Cup cars, he has never competed in a GT3-RSR. “It’s an exciting thing for me because the GT2 class is an option for me for next year. I’ve known Paul Daniels for a while, but it wasn’t until one of the JWA mechanics came to work with me for the last three rounds of the Supercup that I found out the team really want to give it a push for the last race in Brazil. It went from there and I’m looking forward to giving the team a good result.”

Daniels added: “We are looking to move the team forward with professional drivers. This is our third season in the Le Mans Series and we are looking towards an entry in the Le Mans 24 Hours. That’s not easy, but we’re hoping to have our loyalty to the series rewarded. We’ve had fantastic support from Porsche - they’ve really helped us with technical support, development and helping us compete in the Le Mans Series, and our tyre suppliers Pirelli have also been very supportive.”

For further information about JWA, please visit www.jameswattautomotive.com