Interviews

Richard Westbrook: “The Hard Work Starts now!”

© richardwestbrook.co.uk

One Porsche factory driver is not earning his wages in Florida this weekend but he is carrying out vital testing and development work at Monza for his new team Prospeed before they embark on a full season campaign as Porsche’s ‘great hope’ in trying to win the FIA GT Championship.

Richard Westbrook spoke with The Tour Podcast and Planetlemans about his time in the Porsche Cup, the Porsche training camp, his season ahead and a message for all those Porsche doubters out there!

This is a part transcript of the interview. The full audio interview will be part of the next Tour Podcast – for Fans of British and Global Motorsport due to be available early next week.

SM: Richard, how does it feel to introduce you as a Porsche factory driver?

RW: Yeah it feels great, you can keep saying that as much as you like! Well as you know its something I have been working towards ever since I first sat in a Porsche in 2003 and it has been a great reward. I suppose after winning the Supercup in 2006 I was close to getting a deal then but things just didn’t quite pan out so I stayed in the Supercup for another season, which people questioned at the time but it paid off. I won the championship again and I was finally offered the contract, which is fantastic.

SM: That 2nd season in the Supercup was always going to be tough because people said you were on a hiding to nothing and you simply had to win the Championship again?

RW: I know, people said I was mad doing it for a 2nd year but you know I really wanted to stay in the Porsche family. It was a bit of a gamble going with a new team but it finally paid off and it went all the way down to the last corner but it turned out well in the end.

SM: I bet it was great being part of the Formula One circus though? It must be a different world supporting them?

RW: Yeah, I’m actually really going to miss it. You’re always racing in front 80,000 people and it’s a great championship. It’s hard hard racing. It’s getting more popular in England and it’s already big in the rest of Europe. I think its been going for 16 years now and not many Championships can say that.

SM: Moving on to this season, I know you have been busy. I spoke with Patrick Long earlier in the week and tried to get some gossip to see if you were ‘out of shape’ or struggling with the training camp but he wouldn’t give me any. Just tell me how tough the Porsche training camp was in the Canary Islands?

RW: I have done a marathon before but this was like to doing a marathon everyday for 10 days! I mean it really was tough. I couldn’t even stretch down to put my underpants on in the morning! They really did bring you down to zero and then afterwards it was a week of doing nothing, which is what the doctors told us to do. I just couldn’t get out of bed!

It was great though to meet up with all the other drivers. It was a great atmosphere and thanks Pat for not dropping me in it!

SM: Just tell us about your drives for the 2008 season?

RW: Yeah I have a full season in FIA GT paired up with Emmanuel Collard, which I’m really really pleased with driving for Prospeed from Belgium and I’m doing the Le Mans Series with Farnbacher paired up with Simonsen and Neilsen. There the only two things I can confirm at the moment, I cant talk about Le Mans or anything else but they’re my two main programmes.

SM: Looking at the FIA GT campaign, you really are the sole Porsche effort or professional effort anyway against a whole gaggle of Ferrari’s, it’s going to be tough?

RW: Yeah It’s going to be tough. You can look at it both ways. If there were ten Porsches we would still have to try and be the 1st Porsche. The FIA GT is such a tough championship and we know what we have got to go and do. We’ve got some ground to catch up on Ferrari, there’s no hiding that and hopefully we have made a step over the winter and we can close that gap down and pass them.

SM: I think it is right to say that Porsche are under a bit of pressure in GT2 this season? A category that Porsche had dominated for decades but the way Ferrari came out last year it seem like a real challenge this season?

RW: Yeah, it’s a big challenge. I have read a few things myself and some people are saying that ‘Ferrari are unbeatable and Porsche are finished’. Well to be honest they are just talking out of their backside. Porsche had a hard season last year and we are trying to bridge that gap but believe you me there are no better than the Porsche people to do that.

SM: What are the main differences between this years car over last years?

RW: I can tell you that it is better aerodynamically. There are little bits here and there. You could say it was a disaster last year but there wasn’t one thing fundamentally wrong with the car. There was just room for improvement in several areas and in all of those areas, the car has been improved. It’s the million euro question this year, can Porsche beat Ferrari? Well you are just going to have to wait and see!

SM: Tell us about your important work at Monza this week?

RW: Testing is really restricted in FIA GT and my team mate Emmanuel Collard is obviously in the Spyder at Sebring and one of us had to the test at Monza as its really important for the whole season ahead. Originally I was scheduled to go to Sebring but it was the right thing to do for one of us to be here.

SM: Just tell us about your goals for the season ahead?

RW: I didn’t become a factory driver just to say ‘I’m a factory driver’, I took this opportunity because it gives me the best opportunity to win. That’s what I want to do this year. I want to go out there and beat the other manufacturers and that’s my goal this year. Its going to be tough but the hard work starts now!