KNUTSFORD’S Oliver Webb ended his debut season racing sports cars on Sunday as a champion.

The 23-year-old helped holders Signatech-Alpine successfully defend their European Le Mans Series title with a fifth-place finish during the campaign finale at Estoril, in Portugal.

“It’s been one of the most challenging years I’ve had,” he said.

“It was a relief to see the chequered flag knowing we’d done enough – a proud moment to have helped the team retain the title in my first season.”

The British driver, along with French duo Nelson Panciatici and Paul-Loup Chatin, started from the grid’s second row after setting the third fastest lap during qualifying.

An eventful four-hour race followed, Webb taking the track with a slender lead following opening stints by his teammates.

He increased that advantage to more than 30 seconds before he was summoned back to the pits to serve a drive-through penalty as punishment for a technical infringement by the French outfit’s mechanics during the previous stop.

A second penalty followed after officials judged his release to have been unsafe.

Chatin recovered to fifth at the finish, leaving Signatech-Alpine four points clear of their closest rivals in the final standings.

Webb said: “It was edge-of-the-seat stuff, one of the toughest races of the year.

“The penalties made it harder, but the car felt strong because the team did a great job with its set-up.

“Hopefully I’ll be back in 2015 to help them win again.”