everything. Trying to get Le Mans and the world championship is where we can get into in the future. ”
But Audi and Toyota have been doing (in WEC) for a long time. They are very professional. We take no credit away from them. That is what we should be, that is why we are here, to race them, because we respect them a lot. But in the future I of course want Porsche to be champions and have a Le Mans victory at some stage.”
With one victory, four pole positions and another five podiums, Porsche’s first season in WEC was far more than stunning. In the last race in Sao Paulo, the two Porsches beat Toyota to pole position with car #20 at the front.
However, with less than half an hour to the end of 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, with Webber behind the wheel, he crashed heavily into the wall at the last corner (where he had a similar accident in a Jaguar F1 car in 2003). He tweeted on the next day at hospital that the correct angle of impact saved his life. Meanwhile, the sister car #14 scored Porsche’s first outright victory in a world championship endurance race since 1989.
Four years ago in Valencia, Webber escaped from another horrible crash when his Red Bull RB7 ploughed into the back of Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham (then called Lotus Racing), launching Webber straight into the air. Facing the camera of BBC after the race, he was incredibly calm and even enquired about England’s result at 2010 World Cup.
A fortnight later, Mark celebrated his first win at Silverstone and left a sarcastic message over the team radio - “Not bad for a number two driver” in which way he expressed his anger at the team having given his new front wing to his teammate.
The 2015 season of WEC will start in Silverstone in April. Will we see the @AussieGrit jump onto the top of the podium for a third time?
Maybe. Maybe not. But he still has time to achieve his dreams. Furthermore, he is trying his best to lure the old blokes in F1 like Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button to join his new party in the WEC.
“I think any grand prix driver in this category, we have seen this year, is very, very positive. The whole championship will welcome them with open arms. I think now this window opens, especially Jenson is in a stage where maybe he wants a new challenge. ”
“I think they would enjoy these cars. They would be very enjoying to drive on the limit every lap which they used to do in F1. Maybe they are looking for this step-up in certain a… I won’t say overall performance but in terms of satisfaction for your work towards a job, maybe they look for it right now.”
Images: Richard Washbrooke / Adrenal Media