Le Mans 24 Hours podium not 'ridiculous' ByKolles aim – Webb

The Austrian team's ENSO CLM P1/01 is the sole non-manufacturer LMP1 car to be entered in the World Endurance Championship this season.

ByKolles qualified ninth at the Silverstone WEC opener, slower than four LMP2 cars, but its now-Nissan-powered car ran largely without issues until retiring following a pitlane incident with an Aston Martin.

Webb, who is driving alongside James Rossiter and Dominik Kraihamer, was encouraged by the pace and reliability the team showed at Silverstone after a disastrous pre-season test at Monza that was cut short by problems.

"To be two or three seconds quicker than last year [at Silverstone], and to not have one issue engine or drivetrain-wise, I'm very happy with that," Webb told Autosport. "The car is genuinely a pleasure to drive now.

"We're quick in a straight line, the Nissan engine has a lot of power and torque. We should be the quickest in a straight line at Le Mans, which is going to be helpful.

"We still have new updates coming to the car before Le Mans. whereas all the LMP2 cars are at their peak. They've done loads of testing, they have no updates, but we've got more to come.

"To think of an overall podium at Le Mans is looking less and less ridiculous."

Webb said that the fact this year's new generation of LMP2 cars are so much faster than last year's had made ByKolles' life harder, but expressed optimism for the future of the privateer LMP1 class.

Ginetta aims to have at least three of the six cars it plans to sell to customers on the WEC grid in 2018, which combined with ByKolles and the two-car SMP Racing/Dallara project would make for a sub-class of six.

"WEC have made it hard for themselves making those LMP2s so much faster," he said. "Making them six seconds quicker and leaving a four-second gap [to the hybrids] for a privateer LMP1 category is tight.

"When the LMP2s gain six seconds over the winter and you gain three, it doesn't look very good.

"But if Ginetta only field half as many as they want to [next year], SMP have two - all of a sudden you're looking at a grid that's bigger than the hybrid class. Then it becomes a legitimate category."