Webb is out to cause a buzz at Le Mans...
MANCHESTER DRIVER PUTS BEE SYMBOL ON CAR FOLLOWING ARENA BOMBING
OLIVER Webb is gearing up for his fourth start in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend and he will be taking the famous Manchester bee with him.
The Manchester-born driver took a class podium on his maiden visit at the French classic in 2014, but has retired from his two previous attempts.
This year, he’s looking to return to the podium with the ByKolles team, driving a car adorned with the Manchester bee in honour of those killed in the Manchester Arena attack.
“I’ve got great memories from my first ever year racing here with a French team and French factory outfit, Alpine Renault,” Webb recalls.
“Getting on the podium in my first year gave me the taste for it. To be racing in the top LMP1 class now is a great feeling. This place has such history.
“To finish ahead of all the LMP2s and get a Le Mans overall podium is the aim,” he added.
Webb’s rise up the racing ranks began in single seaters. He was a front runner in Formula Renault and Formula 3 before stints in World Series Renault 3.5 and Indy Lights in America.
In 2014 he made the switch to sports car racing and won the European Le Mans Series that same year.
He’s since established himself as one of the world’s top prototype racing drivers and he feels that competing in the prime sports car race is always going to be a career high-point.
“It’s the biggest race in the world equalled only by the Monaco F1 and Indy 500, to have raced at both of those events in World Series and Indy Lights is great, but to be here in the main race in LMP1 tops it all,” he said.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, a series that Webb’s team was set to complete for the full season as the sole privateer entry.
However, with a huge influx of privateer LMP1 entries set to come into the series next year, the team has opted to forgo much of the latter half of the season in order to test and prepare for 2018.
“We will for sure do the Nurburgring and maybe the USA round,” Webb revealed.
“But we need to develop the car for next year when we have a lot of competition coming into the category, so I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Although Webb will be watching a few races from the sidelines later this year, he sees his long-term future in the WEC. He said: “I’m aiming to stay in the top category and get some factory contracts to keep me in the sport I love as long as possible.”