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Webb’s Silverstone Sixth
Webb’s Silverstone Sixth
Knutsford-based racing driver, Oli Webb had a solid weekend at Silverstone during the Renault World Series event, held there on the 7th and 8th July.The weekend was unusual, with Formula Renault supporting the prestigious Renault World Series, rather than the British Touring Car Championship the champio
nship normally supports. The presence of a World Championship meant that qualifying was restricted, with the Formula Renault racers only having one session, using their first and second best laps to decide grid position.Webb was a little disappointed having achieved seventh on the grid for both races, but he was shocked to learn that he was just 0.05 seconds off fourth place. Such is the closeness of the Formula Renault Championship that braking thirty centimetres later for one corner, can make many place difference on the grid. Race One saw Webb get a good start and getting himself up to sixth by the second lap. On a charge, the ex-Formula BMW scholarship racer was tucked up under the gearbox of the fifth placed man, ready to make a pass. But with the car’s front-end aerodynamics seriously compromised by the proximity of the other car, Webb lost front-end grip and ended up touching a rear tyre on the gravel. The resulting spin left Webb well down the order, but unperturbed he fought back to 12th by the chequered flag. Webb had the bit between his teeth for Race Two and surged off the line, to take one place on the first lap. Unfortunately, the eighth placed man got a better start and passed him at the same time. Soon afterwards, Webb’s Fortec teammate James Calado, began to drop back and in a daring move Webb went almost wheel-to-wheel with him, whilst passing through Abbey. Webb’s Graduate Championship rival Dean Stoneman, was the next man ahead, but the gap seemed too great. With grim determination, Webb set about catching the Alpine Motorsport driver and was consistently lapping just inside record pace, lap after lap. On the final lap Webb went for it and ended up crossing the line level with Stoneman, but the timing equipment just gave it to his rival. Afterwards Webb commented: “I can take a lot of positives from that race, again I was right up there in terms of lap pace and if I can get a little extra in qualifying, I can be on the podium. I really enjoyed racing alongside the World Series cars, it is nice to be racing in front of such an enormous crowd, BTCC attracts a lot of people, but there were over 100,000 at Silverstone.” Webb is back in action at the ultra high speed Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk on the 12th and 13th of July.
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