Westbrook leads attack at Silverstone

Porsche works driver Richard Westbrook claimed sixth place in the opening round of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone on Sunday, but it was a disappointing result after he had gone fastest during the running on Saturday.

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.