Earl Bamber

Earl Bamber
Bamber (centre) on the podium following the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	Earl Anderson Bamber (1990-07-09) 9 July 1990 Whanganui, New Zealand
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2015
Teams	Porsche Team
Best finish	1st (2015)
Class wins	1 (2015)
United SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2014
Teams	Porsche North America
Car no.	911, 912 (2014–2016)
Starts	GT Le Mans: 12 (7 podiums), GT Daytona: 2 (0 podium)
Wins	0
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	2nd (GTLM) at the 2014 Petit Le Mans, 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, Continental Tire Road Race Showcase and Oak Tree Grand Prix in 2015
Porsche Supercup career
Debut season	2014
Teams	FACH Auto Tech
Car no.	19 (2014)
Starts	13 (8 Podiums)
Wins	2
Poles	3
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	1st in 2014
Championship titles
2014	Porsche Supercup Drivers Championship
Awards
2014	Porsche Supercup Rookie Classification
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia career
Debut season	2013
Teams	Nexus Racing (2013), LKM Racing (2014)
Car no.	7 (2013), 1 (2014)
Starts	22 (21 Podiums)
Wins	14
Poles	11
Fastest laps	11
Best finish	1st in 2013, 2014
Championship titles
2013, 2014	Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Drivers Championship

Previous series
2009 2008–09 2008–09 2008–09 2008 2008 2007–08 2006–07–2010 2006 2005–06 2005–06	Euroseries 3000 GP2 Asia Series A1 Grand Prix Int. Formula Master Australian Formula Three Formula Master Italia Formula V6 Asia Toyota Racing Series Formula BMW Asia New Zealand Formula Ford South Island Formula Ford
Championship titles
2006	Formula BMW Asia
Awards
2008	Lady Wigram Trophy

Earl Anderson Bamber (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. He is the 2014 Porsche Supercup and double Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion, and won the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. He was subsequently selected to race in three Porsche Supercup meetings. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. Bamber's hybrid, car No. 19, was third on the grid after Porsche finished first, second and third in qualifying, 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. 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. He bettered the previous lap record by more than a full second. 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. Earl made his debut in the FIA GT World Cup in the streets of Macau in November.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.

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. 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. 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.In changing weather conditions at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Bamber and his teammates in the #912 Porsche 911 RSR finished 3rd.

Helmets

Bamber uses helmets designed by Italian manufacturers Stilo. 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. 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

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
2005–06	New Zealand Formula Ford Championship	4th	Van Diemen RF93 Ford
2006	Formula BMW Asia	1st	Mygale FB02 BMW	Team Meritus
2006–07	Toyota Racing Series	7th	Tatuus TT104ZZ Toyota	Team Meritus
2007	Formula Renault V6 Asia Championship	10th	Tatuus FRV6 Renault	Team Meritus
2007–08	Toyota Racing Series	2nd	Tatuus TT104ZZ Toyota	International Motorsport
2008	Formula V6 Asia	2nd	Tatuus FRV6 Renault	Team Meritus
2008	Australian Drivers' Championship	13th	Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz	Team BRM
2008	International Formula Master	15th	Tatuus N.T07 Honda	ADM Motorsport
2008–09	Toyota Racing Series	12th	Tatuus TT104ZZ Toyota	Earl Bamber Racing
2008–09	GP2 Asia Series	14th	Dallara GP2/05 Renault	Team Meritus
2008–09	A1 Grand Prix	7th	Ferrari A1 08	A1 Team New Zealand Super Nova Racing
2009	International Formula Master	18th	Tatuus N.T07 Honda	ADM Motorsport
2009	Euroseries 3000	11th	Lola B05/52 Zytek	TP Formula
2010	Toyota Racing Series	2nd	Tatuus TT104ZZ Toyota	Triple X Motorsport
2010	Superleague Formula	7th	Panoz DP09B Menard	F.C. Porto Reid Motorsport
2010–11	Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge New Zealand	15th	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Triple X Motorsport
2011	Toyota Racing Series	15th	Tatuus TT104ZZ Toyota	M2 Competition
2011	Superleague Formula	7th	Panoz DP09B Menard	New Zealand Reid Motorsport
2013	Porsche Carrera Cup Asia	1st	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Nexus Racing
	Porsche Supercup	NC	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	FACH Auto Tech
2014	Porsche Carrera Cup Asia	1st	Porsche 991 GT3 Cup	LKM Racing
	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland	7th	Porsche 991 GT3 Cup	75 Motorsport
	Porsche Supercup	1st	Porsche 991 GT3 Cup	FACH Auto Tech
2015	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP1	9th	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Porsche Team
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am	13th	Porsche 911 RSR	Abu Dhabi - Proton Racing
	TUDOR United SportsCar Championship	10th	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche North America
2016	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship	Season in progress	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche North America
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Season in progress	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche Motorsport

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2007–08	New Zealand	NED SPR	NED FEA	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	CHN SPR PO	CHN FEA PO	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR PO	AUS FEA PO	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	2nd	93
2008–09		NED SPR 2	NED FEA 3	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	MYS SPR 3	MYS FEA 6	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	RSA SPR 8	RSA FEA Ret	POR SPR Ret	POR FEA Ret	GBR SPR Ret	GBR FEA Ret							7th	36

Complete GP2 Series results

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
2008–09	Qi-Meritus Mahara	CHN FEA 6	CHN SPR 2	UAE FEA Ret	UAE SPR C	BHR FEA 11	BHR SPR 7	QAT FEA	QAT SPR	MAL FEA	MAL SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	14th	8

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Asia results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
2013	Nexus Racing	SEP 3	SHG 2	SHG 2	ZIC 1	ZIC 1	ORD 1	ORD 1	INJ 10	INJ 3	SIN 1	SHG 1	SHG 2	1st	217
2014	LKM Racing	SEP 1	SHG 1	SHG 3	ZIC	ZIC	FUJ 1	FUJ 1	SEP 1	SEP 2	SIN 1	SHG 1	SHG 1	1st	199

Complete Porsche Carrera Cup Germany results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Points
2014	Team 75 Bernhard	HOC 3	HOC 1	OSC DNF	OSC 5	HUN 5	HUN 17	NOR 5	NOR 2	RBR 2	RBR 1	NÜR	NÜR	LAU	LAU	SAC	SAC	HOC	HOC	7th	126

Complete Porsche Supercup results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2013	FACH Auto Tech	ESP	MON	GBR	GER	HUN 15	BEL	ITA	UAE 2	UAE 5		NC	0
2014	FACH Auto Tech	ESP 1	MON 9	AUT 6	GBR 3	GER 2	HUN 3	BEL 1	ITA 3	USA 4	USA 2	1st	155

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2015	Porsche Team	LMP1	Porsche 919 Hybrid	Porsche 2.0 L Turbo V4 (Hybrid)	SIL	SPA 6	LMS 1						9th	58
	Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	LMGTE Am	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6				NÜR 6	COA 2	FUJ 5	SHA	BHR	13th	36
2016	Porsche Motorsport	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0L Flat-6			LMS

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2014	Porsche North America	Porsche 911 RSR	GTLM	DIS	SEB	LBGP	LAG	WGI	MOS	IND	ROA	VIR	COT	RAT 2	29th	33
2015	Porsche North America	Porsche 911 RSR	GTLM	DIS 7	SEB 7	LBGP	LAG	WGI 2	MOS 7	LRP	ROA 2	VIR 2	COT 5	RAT 8	10th	225
2016	Porsche North America	Porsche 911 RSR	GTLM	DIS 3	SEB 3	LBGP 7	LAG 3	WGI	MOS	LRP	ROA	VIR	COT	RAT	2nd	118

External links

• 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

Sporting positions
Preceded by Salman Al Khalifa	Formula BMW Asia Champion 2006	Succeeded by Jazeman Jaafar
Preceded by Daniel Gaunt	Winner of the New Zealand Grand Prix 2010	Succeeded by Mitch Evans
Preceded by Alexandre Imperatori	Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Champion 2013–2014	Succeeded by Chris van der Drift
Preceded by Nicki Thiim	Porsche Supercup Champion 2014	Succeeded by Philipp Eng
Preceded by Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015 with: Nico Hülkenberg Nick Tandy	Succeeded by Incumbent