THE W L
INTERVIEW
Cheshire born Oli Webb , 25 is a British professional racing driver . Oli began his career in karting at the age of nine and has since gone on to win the European Le Mans , Dubai 24 hour championship and the Asian Le Mans . In an exclusive interview , Oli talks to Wirral Life about his career , dream cars and plans for 2017 .
You began your racing career aged 9 when you started karting , how did you get into it ?
I started karting as a child whilst I was away on holiday and at karting parties with friends . I then progressed up to karting at Daytona Manchester regularly before qualifying for a licence to compete on a Pro Level . I won the championship in my first year of main stream competition .
It looks like your motor sport career followed the popular pattern of moving up from karting to Formula 3 ( like Lewis Hamilton ) but you then switched to serious endurance racing at a young age and you ’ ve become very successful – what made you choose this road ?
I loved the single seater route , it was fantastic to get spotted as a young talent and BMW helped fund my young racing career before being with Mercedes in F3 , much like Lewis . But then as the F1 world changed and financial situations with sponsors became the focus it was time for me to look elsewhere into a career that was long lasting and substantial . Endurance racing seemed the key and Le Mans being the main focus .
Amazingly , so far you have won 2014 European Le Mans championship , 2015 Dubai 24 hour championship and in 2016 you were the Asian Le Mans champion , which of these victories meant the most to you ?
For me 2014 was my best year . Winning my first ever year in endurance racing for the French brand Renault Alpine . It was my first time I had ever been there and to stand on the podium at Le Mans was truly amazing , I ’ ll never forget it and I can ’ t wait to get back up there .
Apart from motor sport , you are a keen athlete and keep yourself ultra fit - What is your fitness regime and how disciplined are you ?
I love to keep fit . Whether it be specifically for racing where I do gym training for the neck and upper body exercises , all the way through to triathlons that I try to compete in regularly . I actually did my first ever triathlon having never ridden a proper clip in bike , that was interesting ! I train every day for 2 hours with one rest day most weeks . With the amount of travel I have to do , it ’ s very hard to keep up the routine but we have trainers at the tracks and a lot of help along the way ! wirrallife . com 13