Earl Bamber

Earl Bamber (center) on the top three podium after winning the 2015 Le Mans 24-hour race

Earl Bamber at the A1 Grand Prix in Kyalami 2009

Earl Bamber (born July 9, 1990 in Wanganui , New Zealand ) is a New Zealand racing driver .

Career

After Bamber had won two New Zealand kart racing championship titles in 2004, he started in the New Zealand Formula Ford in 2005 and finished fourth in the overall standings with three wins. In the following year Bamber was active for the Malaysian team Meritus in the Formula BMW Asia and secured the 2006 championship title with ten wins in 19 races. In 2007 he started for Meritus in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series and the Formula Renault V6 Asia . He couldn't win a race in either series.

In 2008 Bamber was again active in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series, where he finished second in the championship. He was also runner-up in the Formula Renault V6 Asia. Bamber attracted attention when he won the sprint race as driver of ADM Motorsport in Imola in September 2008 at the age of 18 on his first race weekend of the International Formula Masters . Shortly afterwards, Bamber came into focus again, because he was on the podium in both races at the A1 Grand Prix racing weekend in Zandvoort . Then Bamber was signed by Qi-Meritus Mahara for the GP2 Asia Series season 2008/2009 as a teammate of the former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong . On the first race weekend in Shanghai , Bamber made another good impression: He scored points in both races and in the sprint race he achieved his first podium finish with second place. On the next two race weekends, Bamber didn't score any further points and was then replaced by Álvaro Parente . In the overall standings he was 14th. After his engagement in the GP2 Asia series, Bamber contested other races of the A1GP.

In 2009, Bamber began his season in the international Formula Masters. However, his involvement ended after two race weekends as his ADM Motorsport team withdrew from the series. The New Zealander, who took part in another race weekend as a guest driver, came in 18th overall. He was also active in the Euroseries 3000 and the New Zealand Toyota Series.

In 2010, Bamber started the entire season in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series. Although he was the pilot with the most wins this season with six wins, he still narrowly lost the championship title against Mitch Evans with 915 to 912 points and was runner-up like 2008. The New Zealander also took part in two Superleague Formula racing weekends in the 2010 season. In Ordos he represented Álvaro Parente in the team at FC Porto, which is supported by Atech Grand Prix and Reid Motorsport . Bamber finished third in the first race and won the “Super Final”, the winner of which received 100,000 euros. At the subsequent race weekend in Beijing , which was not part of the championship, he switched to the PSV Eindhoven car within the team . After finishing sixth in the first race, he finished second behind Parente in the second race. As the Super Final could not take place due to heavy rainfall, Bamber, who had scored the most points, became the so-called "Weekend Winner".

In 2011 Earl Bamber drove the Toyota Racing Series , where he finished 15th overall, and in the Superleague Formula , where he finished seventh. In 2013 he won the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and contested his first rounds in the Porsche Supercup as a guest driver. A year later, Bamber was again champion in the Porsche Cup Asia and the Porsche Supercup , and he also finished seventh in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany .

In 2015 and 2017 he won the Le Mans 24-hour race with Porsche .

statistics

Career stations

• 2004: karting
• 2005: New Zealand Formula Ford (4th place)
• 2006: Asian Formula BMW (champions)
• 2007: New Zealand Toyota Racing Series (7th place); Formula Renault V6 Asia (11th place)
• 2008: New Zealand Toyota Racing Series (2nd place); Formula Renault V6 Asia (2nd place)
• 2009: GP2 Asia Series (14th place); International Formula Master (18th place)
• 2010: New Zealand Toyota Racing Series (2nd place); Superleague Formula
• 2011: New Zealand Toyota Racing Series (15th place); Superleague Formula (7th place)
• 2013: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (1st place); Porsche Supercup (guest driver)
• 2014: Porsche Supercup (1st place); Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (1st place)
• 2015; 24h of Le Mans overall victory & class victory LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid
• 2017; 24h of Le Mans overall victory & class victory LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2015	Porsche team	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Nico Hulkenberg	Nick Tandy	Overall victory
2016	Porsche Motorsport North America	Porsche 911 RSR	Frédéric Makowiecki	Jörg Bergmeister	failure
2017	Porsche LMP team	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Timo Bernhard	Brendon Hartley	Overall victory
2018	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 991 RSR GTE	Patrick Pilet	Nick Tandy	Rank 27
2019	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 991 RSR GTE	Patrick Pilet	Nick Tandy	Rank 22

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2014	Mühlner Motorsports America	Porsche 911 GT America	Kyle Gimple	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	accident
2015	Porsche North America	Porsche 911 RSR	Nick Tandy	Patrick Pilet	Richard Lietz	Rank 14
2016	Porsche North America	Porsche 911 RSR	Frédéric Makowiecki	Michael Christensen		Rank 12
2018	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 911 RSR	Laurens Vanthoor	Gianmaria Bruni		Rank 12
2019	Porsche GT Team	Porsche 911 RSR	Laurens Vanthoor	Mathieu Jaminet		Rank 14

Web links

Commons : Earl Bamber  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of Earl Bamber
• racecam.de Earl Bamber

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "GP2 Asia: Meritus with Yoong and Bamber" (Motorsport-total.com on October 10, 2008)
2. ↑ "Surreal", "unbelievable": Porsche celebrates Le Mans hat trick - - WEC at Motorsport-Total.com . In: Motorsport-Total.com . ( motorsport-total.com [accessed June 18, 2017]).