Mickfield racer takes positives out of 2015 campaign
Josh Webster believes there are plenty of positives to take from a 2015 campaign which ended without the retention of his Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain title.
The 21-year-old racer from Mickfield, near Debenham (pictured), finished third in the championship standings, more than 100 points behind champion Dan Cammish.
But despite not being able to retain the title he won 12 months ago, the Team Parker Racing driver is pleased with the progression he has made.
“All in all it’s been a good year,” he said. “I’ve said this to a few people but I think if I could race myself from last year, this year, I would beat him.
“I’ve come on as a driver and now I’m looking to move on from that into hopefully either the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany or the Porsche Supercup next year.
“I’ve done two years of the Great Britain series. It’s a great championship which has helped me a lot.
“I got a scholarship at the end of 2013 and the contract is up at the end of this year.
“The pressure is on me now to find a budget for next year and attract sponsors.”
Webster still holds the dream of one day becoming a factory driver, and believes the next step on that path will be to move onto a new series.
“There is no deal in concrete yet but hopefully something can happen,” he said. “We’re working really hard to get something announced around December time.”
Webster missed out on the chance to take second place in this season’s Carrera Cup Great Britain standings, as the final round at Brands Hatch saw him only able to pick up eight points.
“It wasn’t the best weekend,” he admitted. “We were really quick in practice and the car felt really good, but in qualifying the other teams found more than us. I love the circuit at Brands Hatch. I qualified on pole last year so it was strange not to be up there again.
“I had a tyre failure going at 120mph in the first race and had massive accident. The car had a lot of damage, but the team did a fantastic job to get it back together.”
After retiring in the first race of the weekend, Webster rode home in ninth to end the campaign on 203 points and now begins work on securing his seat for 2016.
n Fressingfield-based ace Garry Findlay has been confirmed as part of a three-driver line-up scheduled to give the exciting new Ligier LMP3 sports prototype its competitive debut when Graff Racing fields the car at the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 4 Hours of Estoril on Sunday.
Findlay, who has been campaigning a Ligier JS53 Evo for Graff in the VdeV Series, will step up to make his own LMP3 debut with the French team as Ligier publicly presents its JS P3 for the first time after extensive testing.
Findlay helped Graff give the new car a final run at Paul Ricard in late September and, after impressing team bosses, has been confirmed alongside French drivers Eric Trouillet and Thomas Accary in the Nissan–powered machine for the Estoril event.
“I’m excited to be giving the Ligier LMP3 its race debut,” said the 26-year-old.
“One of the reasons for switching teams in VdeV this season was to improve my options for progressing up the sportscar ladder, and this is the perfect first step.”
Findlay’s own future also looks positive, with a permanent move into LMP3 next season now firmly on the agenda.
“My aim was always to put myself on the road to Le Mans, and LMP3 is the first step on that road,” he explained,
“Graff told me at the test that I had nothing to prove to them, so I am more confident about my programme heading into 2016 and beyond.
“Estoril will be the biggest race of my career so far and I’m looking forward to it.”