Richard Westbrook (born 10 July 1975) is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup international championship (in 2006 & 2007) and the Porsche Carrera Cup in his native Britain (2004). At the end of the 2007 season, Richard signed a factory contract deal with the German marque Porsche, and the British ace proceeded to take on the world's best on the other side of the Atlantic. The next year (2009), Westbrook won the highly coveted FIA GT2 Championship, taking four victories in the process, establishing himself firmly on the World motor sport stage and in the upper echelons of elite sports car drivers.
In 2011 Westbrook signed with Corvette as a factory driver, competing in both the Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series. Notably, in 2013 Richard won the 12 Hours of Sebring. For the 2016 United SportsCar Championship, he will join the Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the new Ford GT.
Early career
Early Years (1986–1996) Born in Chelmsford, Westbrook began karting in 1986.
Following a successful Formula Vauxhall Winter Series campaign in 1993 (2nd place in the series, 1 win), he headed to Europe to compete in the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries. After a promising showing (4th place in the series, 1 win) in his debut year, he returned in 1995 and took three victories, narrowly missing out on third place in the series.
In 1996 Westbrook moved up to Formula 3 and headed for the highly competitive German Formula 3 Series (with Tokmakidis Motorsport) and the Austrian Formula 3 Cup (Achletiner Motorsport). In German F3, he was up against a number of European drivers, including future F1 stars like Nick Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli and he took one win in a short campaign.
In Austria, having missed the opening pair of races due to cutting a late deal, Westbrook saw off the challenge of German racer Tim Bergmeister and a host of local drivers to take two victories in 1996 before missing the final two rounds due to budgetary issues.
Career Break (1997–2002) Having been unable to secure the budget required to compete and advance his career, Westbrook was forced to take a lengthy six-year break from racing, before convincing a friend to loan him the money to buy a Porsche GT3 Cup Car for the 2002 season.
Porsche (2003–2010) The Porsche Carrera Cup GB commenced in 2003 and Westbrook was immediately a front-runner. Between 2003 and 2005, he was dominant; taking the title in 2004 (7 wins, 17 podiums, 8 pole positions, 4 fastest laps) with Redline Racing and finishing as runner-up in 2003 (Team BCR), and 2005 (Redline Racing). Indeed, his 2005 totals for victories and pole positions (14 wins, 8 pole-positions) are both series records and he went on to take 16 podiums across the season.
Having done a few Supercup races in 2002 with Kadach Racing Team and in 2003 with Porsche Cars Great Britain, he returned in 2005 in a Lechner Racing School Team prepared Porsche in rounds which did not clash with his UK commitments. He won the season opener in Bahrain and came 9th overall, adding a fastest lap to his tally too.
In 2006 with RT Morellato PZ Essen (4 wins, 11 podiums, 4 pole positions, 3 fastest laps), he finished every Supercup race on the podium, wrapping up the title with two races to go, against drivers such as Uwe Alzen, Alessandro Zampedri and Patrick Huisman. He has also competed in several Carrera races in Germany (EMC Buchbinder ARAXA Racing – 1 win, 4 podiums, 2 fastest laps) and also back in the UK (Red Line Racing – 4 races, 3 wins, 2 fastest laps) where he alternated with Danny Watts.
In 2007 with HISAQ Competition, he won his second Porsche Supercup title in a row, with wins in Spain and Hungary, along with five other podium finishes and fastest laps. He again competed in Carrera Cup Deutschland, finishing second in the championship for ARAXA Racing (5 wins, 1 pole position, 4 fastest laps). In the same year, he made his debut in the Le Mans Series in a GT2 Porsche for James Watt Automotive and in the Rolex Sports Car Series at Daytona and Watkins Glen with Synergy Racing in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car.
2008 – see next chapter 'Porsche Factory Driver'.