Recently confirming his deal to contest the whole ELMS season with Signatech Alpine, 23 year old Oli Webb is aiming to carve out a sportscar career after seven years on the single seater circuit in both Europe and the USA.
Webb, a resident of Knutsford, Cheshire (former home town of the FIA Sportscar Championship, Kristian Kolby and this here author!) is a confirmed Alpine factory driver for 2014, along with his team mate Nelson Panciatici. Webb will also contest the Le Mans 24 Hours in June with the reigning ELMS champions, Signatech.
“The deal came about through contact I had a number of years ago with Philippe Sinault when I was looking at a VW works deal in British F3. We kept in contact and the opportunity arose this year to put a programme together,” said Webb at Paul Ricard this morning.
Webb, whose day job also revolves around cars – he works for the BAC-Mono supercar organisation – got a taste for LMP2 combat at the Daytona 24 Hours in January when he, along with team mates Olivier Pla, Romain Rusinov and Gustavo Yacaman held third place until an alternator issue meant an eventual placing of eighth had to be settled for.
“I am a works Alpine driver which is terrific,” says Webb, obviously proud to be representing the French constructor. “Nelson and I are both works drivers and we are working well together so far. Paul-Loup Chatin is also doing very well and is within a second of us, so that is getting to the perfect place you want a silver driver to be in an ELMS team.
“We did two full days at Magny Cours last week and it was very productive. We are working on endurance stints on the new Michelins which are a little different to last season. I have a good feeling about the technical capabilities of Alpine and the Signatech team and what we can achieve this year. We will be right up there and I am really looking forward to it.”
Webb’s Daytona experience sealed his desire to race in LMP2 this season and the deal was formalised two weeks ago. His race craft in endurance racing is yet to be honed, but after outings in British GT, Blancpain Endurance Series and the FIA GT Series finale at Baku last autumn, he has at least been exposed to the cut and thrust of multi-class racing.
“I did the Daytona 24 hours in an LMP2 car and I have also done GT races with the Fortec Mercedes, so I have some experience of traffic and how an endurance race pans out. I really look forward to the strategic element of the races. Single seaters are great for wheel-to-wheel racing, but in ELMS there is so much to focus the mind and all over a longer distance. As a driver you can really get your teeth in to it and I like the idea of that very much.”
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