NEVER GIVE UP THE DREAM
RICHARD WESTBROOK
When Richard Westbrook resumed his racing career in the Porsche Supercup in 2002, there were any number of rumours about what he’d been up to in the six years since his single-seater career petered out after a bitza season in Formula 3. Collecting debts in London’s East End and bumming around on a beach in Thailand were among them. Neither was true, but Westbrook had tried various jobs as he struggled to find a new vocation.
“I had a go at a lot of different things, but none of them did it for me,” recalls Westbrook, who is about to return full-time to the IMSA SportsCar Championship with the JDC-Miller Cadillac squad in season 21 of his second career. “I really struggled with not racing; I could barely bring myself to pick up a copy of Autosport.
“In my mind I was never an ex-racing driver. I managed to wangle a couple of Formula 3000 tests, but the teams needed budget so it was never going to happen for me there. Touring cars didn’t float my boat, and sportscar racing wasn’t on the radar for young drivers back then.”
The catalyst for Westbrook’s return was Autosport’s Marcus Simmons. A regular mini-feature in the mag at that time was called Where are they now?, and Simmons put one together on old mate ‘Westy’, talking about his successes in the Opel Lotus Euroseries in 1994-95 and how he missed out on an F3 drive with the KMS-run Benetton Junior Team in Germany for 1996.
“I STRUGGLED WITH NOT RACING; I COULD BARELY BRING MYSELF TO PICK UP A COPY OF AUTOSPORT”
“A friend called me up after reading it
