Oliver Webb Claims Victory In The European Le Mans Series With Signatech-Alpine


British racing driver and new Oxford Vaughan Brand Ambassador, Oliver Webb, has helped Signatech-Alpine to reclaim the ELMS title in his debut season of sports car racing, during a nail-biting season finale at Estoril, Portugal. The young Brit lined up alongside French duo Nelson Panciatici and Paul-Loup Chatin, last weekiend, and raced to a fifth place finish – which was enough for the team to secure the coveted ELMS Championship by four points.

Webb faced the ultimate challenge for the title-deciding race. Having never raced at the Portuguese circuit before, Oliver showed strong pace on his debut outing, and as the qualifying session came to a close, the #36 Signatech-Alpine LMP2 prototype had secured a second row grid slot for the final race of the season.

A clean start by Pantiatici set the Signatech-Alpine team up well, and the Frenchman pushed hard throughout his stint to move up into second place before his pit-stop. Chatin took over the driving seat for the second stint, and set consistently quick lap times to close the gap to the race leader. A few laps later, Chatin took the lead, moving the team one step closer to the title.

Webb took over for the third of five stints, and exited the pits with a three second lead over the team’s main competition - JOTA Sport. Webb managed to increase the gap to 30 seconds, to give his team a commanding lead; but 25 laps into the stint was informed of a drive-through penalty due to an infringement with the mechanics in the previous stop. Webb returned to his pit box to serve the penalty but, on release, too much wheel spin saw an unsafe release called out by the stewards and a second penalty of three minutes for a stop and go was handed to him.

Despite his lack of experience around the 4.182km circuit, BRDC driver Webb managed to edge the team back into contention before Chatin took over for the final stints, taking the car to one of the tightest ever finishes for the ELMS championship. Title rivals JOTA Sport had claimed the final podium position, but Signatech-Alpine, and Webb on his debut sports car season, had done enough to claim the 2015 European Endurance Championship title.

Webb commented, “What a race to end the season! It was real edge-of-your-seat stuff throughout the whole race, and one of the hardest races we have had all year...”

“It was a real relief to see the chequered flag and know that we had done enough to maintain our championship lead... It has been one of the most challenging, and most rewarding seasons I have ever raced in, and I hope to be back defending the title in 2015.”

“I would like to thank everyone, especially the Signatech-Alpine team and my sponsors for such a fantastic season.”

Everyone at Oxford Vaughan would like to congratulate Oliver, and the rest of the Signatech-Alpine team, on their victory in the ELMS Championship. Oxford Vaughan is proud to be associated with Oliver and looks forward to seeing what the future brings for this talented British racing driver.

To keep up with the latest from Oliver, take a look at his website.

You can also follow Oliver on Twitter and on Instagram.


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