Richard Westbrook

WESTBROOK IS FIA GT2 CHAMPION!

Richard Westbrook is the FIA GT2 champion after a stunning drive at Zolder to his fourth victory in eight races this season.

In doing so, the Londoner added his most prestigious title yet to two Porsche Supercup crowns (won in 2006 and ’07) and the Carrera Cup GB (’04), and reclaimed the GT2 crown for Porsche after three successive years of Ferrari champions.

It was a bitter-sweet success for Westbrook, who before Zolder had been partnered all year by French ace Emmanuel Collard. But with the Westbrook/Collard line-up being regarded as ‘platinum’ by FIA GT organisers, and therefore subject to 50kg of ballast in addition to the 50kg of success ballast earned in previous races, it was decided to split the two drivers.

Westbrook would be joined in the ProSpeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3-RSR by young German Marco Holzer, with Collard moving over to the Brixia Racing car with Martin Ragginger. Westbrook and Collard would therefore race without the 50kg of platinum ballast in their bid to vanquish points leaders Gianmaria Bruni/Toni Vilander from Ferrari.

“I do wish I was celebrating with ‘Manu’,” said Westbrook. “He did 90 per cent of the races with me and it’s just as much his championship as it is mine. But we had to react to Ferrari bringing out their 2010 car in the previous round at Paul Ricard. My first thought was, ‘Oh no – I’ve got to fight Manu AND the Ferrari!’
Then my second was, ‘If one of us wins the title it’ll be terrible for both of us, because whoever wins will feel guilty.” Richard qualified an excellent third and charged after the leading Ferrari of Bruni in the race, before passing the Italian in a bold manoeuvre at the Villeneuve chicane: “My only thought was that I had to overtake him. He pulled out a one-second gap in three or four laps, but I reeled him in and outbraked him. It wasn’t easy and I had to surprise him, but I was pleased it was a clean move. Once I was committed on the inside he couldn’t do anything about it. “After that I pulled away and pushed on, and Marco did a very good job. He came into that high-pressure situation and didn’t make any mistakes, and I was delighted with him.”

Now Westbrook is revelling in his status as GT2 champion: “It’s great for ProSpeed, who have done brilliant work, and I’m proud that we did a perfect job at Zolder without a single mistake. We were up against the best GT2 teams in the world out there and it’s fantastic to have clinched it. The team have worked so hard to achieve this and Rudi, Luc, Frans and everyone else involved in Prospeed can be thoroughly proud of themselves.”