Earl Bamber

Earl Anderson Bamber^[1] (born 9 July 1990) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE class, the North American WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GT Le Mans class and the VLN Endurance Racing Championship Nürburgring.^[2][3] He is the 2014 Porsche Supercup and double Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion,^[4] and won the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy.^[5]

Early life

Earl Bamber was born in Whanganui, New Zealand, to Paul and Maureen Bamber (née Johnson), and lived on a farm where he learned to drive in the small settlement of Jerusalem on the Whanganui River.^[6][7] He attended Wanganui Collegiate School along with his younger brother, William. Bamber began in kart racing and won his first title aged 12, at the North Island Sprint Championships (Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted), and his first national title at the 2004 Sprint Kart Championship meeting in Auckland.^[8] Later that year, he secured a podium at the Rotax Max category's annual Grand Final in Portugal after dominating the Junior class in the 2004 Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand.^[8]

Racing career

Open-wheel racing

Bamber progressed through karts and single seater series and was ranked sixth highest future star in the world by the internationally recognised website driverdb.com in 2008.^[8] At 15 he switched to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship before competing in Asia two years later where he won the Asian Formula BMW title. He achieved pole positions, fastest laps and podium results in Formula Renault V6 and Australian Formula 3, despite a tight budget.^[9] In 2008 he won two vice-championship trophies – in Formula Renault V6 Asia and Toyota Racing Series New Zealand. Bamber contested several rounds of the international A1 Grand Prix series for the New Zealand team in 2009, finishing on the podium three times. He also stood on the podium in GP2 Asia, at the age of 19. In 2010 he repeated his 2008 success and was again crowned runner-up in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series.^[9]

Sportscar racing

2013

In 2013, Bamber made his first appearance in Porsche's one make series in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with Malaysian team, Nexus Racing. He battled all season with Martin Ragginger but eventually won the drivers championship.^[10] Bamber was also successful in endurance racing, winning the Bathurst 12 Hour (Class B) with Grove Racing, alongside team owner and Carrera Cup Australia regular Stephen Grove and eventual Supercup rival Ben Barker.^[10] He was subsequently selected to race in three Porsche Supercup meetings.^[11] Bamber's inaugural sportscar racing season ended with victory in the Carrera Cup Asia race at the 60th Macau Grand Prix meeting, defeating nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb in the process.^[12]

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia nominated Bamber for the Porsche Motorsport International Cup Scholarship shootout in Oschersleben, Germany, where he beat seven other top pilots from Porsche one-make cups series around the world.^[9] Part of the selection process included the simulation of a qualifying session as well as an entire race. He received funding of 200,000 Euros for his 2014 Porsche Supercup season campaign the following season.^[9]

2014

Bamber raced with FACH Auto Tech in the Porsche Supercup alongside Porsche Carrera Cups of Germany and Asia with Team 75 Bernhard and LKM Racing, respectively. After ten rounds in the Supercup, Bamber won the drivers championship with 155 points, ahead of Kuba Giermaziak on 132 points, becoming the first New Zealander to win the Porsche Supercup title and the first rookie to do so. After seven of the ten races, the FACH Auto Tech driver had already won the rookie classification.^[13] He dominated the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season on his way to retaining the title as he won eight out of the ten races that he competed in despite missing two races in Zhuhai due to his concurrent commitments in Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany.^[10] With the support of Team 75 Bernhard, Bamber competed in ten out of eighteen rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with two wins, five podiums and three fastest laps. He left the series holding second position in the Drivers Championship and was seventh overall at the end of the season.^[10] Bamber also replaced the injured Richard Lietz in the Porsche 911 RSR at the Petit Le Mans in the United SportsCar Championship, joining Porsche works drivers Patrick Long and Michael Christensen. Their second place ensured team Porsche North America, run by Core Autosport, won the manufacturers title in the championship.^[14]

2015

Hülkenberg, Tandy and Bamber, winners of the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, car Porsche 919 Hybrid #19

Prior to the start of the 2015 season, Bamber was signed by Porsche Motorsport as a works driver.^[15] In January 2015, Bamber and fellow works drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Frédéric Makowiecki took the No.912 Porsche 911 RSR to seventh place at the 24 Hours of Daytona.^[16] Bamber and Nick Tandy joined Formula One driver Nico Hülkenberg in the Porsche LMP squad to contest the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the Le Mans 24 Hours in a 919 Hybrid.^[17] Bamber's hybrid, car No. 19, was third on the grid after Porsche finished first, second and third in qualifying,^[18] but ended up winning comfortably. Bamber's childhood friend and Porsche teammate, Brendon Hartley, with co-drivers Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, started from second on the grid in a 919 Hybrid and finished the race in second place.^[19] Earl Bamber claimed his first career GT Le Mans (GTLM) pole at the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America in his first qualifying attempt as a Porsche factory driver on August 8.^[20] He bettered the previous lap record by more than a full second.^[21] He also made a guest appearance in the FIA World Endurance Championship's 6 Hours of Nürburgring, filling in for Klaus Bachler in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR.^[22] Earl made his debut in the FIA GT World Cup in the streets of Macau in November.^[23] The versatility in going between LMP1, GTE-Pro (GT Le Mans in IMSA) and GTE-Am this year, he said, made him a better driver.^[24]

2016

In 2016, Earl continues to pilot the 911 RSR for Porsche North America and Porsche Motorsport in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the World Endurance Championship, respectively.^[25] Bamber was the highest placed Kiwi driver at the 54th running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona when his Porsche 911 RSR team came home third in the GTLM class and placed ninth overall.^[26] Earl Bamber made a successful return at the Bathurst 12 Hour with a 2nd Class B victory for Grove Motorsport in as many races at the endurance classic in Mount Panorama, Australia alongside team owner Stephen Grove and V8 Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin.^[27] In changing weather conditions at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Bamber and his teammates in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR finished 3rd.^[28]

2017

On 3 December 2016, Earl is confirmed to run in 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship as the driver of Porsche 919 Hybrid car #2, alongside Nick Tandy and André Lotterer.^[29]

Helmets

Bamber uses helmets designed by Italian manufacturers Stilo.^[30] He acknowledges his home country with a silver fern design on the sides of his Stilo ST5 helmets, a quasi-national emblem used for various official symbols, including the Coat of arms of New Zealand and the New Zealand one dollar coin. On top are four red stars with white borders representing the Southern Cross which features on the Flag of New Zealand.^[31] He has the number 19 painted on the back of one of his helmets, the same number as on his Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Racing record

Career results

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Asia results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Germany results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Grove Group	Stephen Grove Ben Barker	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	Class B	286	8th	1st
2016	Grove Hire	Stephen Grove Scott McLaughlin	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	Class B	285	12th	1st

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	Porsche Team	Nico Hülkenberg Nick Tandy	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	395	1st	1st
2016	Porsche Motorsport	Jörg Bergmeister Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE Pro	140	DNF	DNF

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Earl Bamber.

• Earl Bamber's Official Porsche Profile
• Ranking at AutoSport.com
• Earl Bamber career summary at DriverDB.com
• Earl Bamber on Twitter
  
• Earl Bamber on Instagram
• Official website