Earl Bamber

Earl Bamber - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Earl Bamber

Earl Anderson Bamber (born 9 July 1990) is a New Zealand professional racing driver and racing team owner who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota and Cadillac Whelen. He is a factory driver for Corvette Racing, having previously driven in a factory capacity for Porsche.

This profile of Earl Bamber covers Early Life and Family Background, Open-wheel racing, Sportscar racing, Other racing and Helmets.

Bamber is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche, having won in 2015 alongside Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy and in 2017 with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. He also became overall champion of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship alongside the latter trio. Bamber also won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTLM class in 2019, as well as the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2023. Prior to his endurance racing career, he was champion of the 2014 Porsche Supercup and won the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia twice in 2013 and 2014.

Early Life and Family Background of Earl Bamber

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, Will. 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.

Open-wheel racing of Earl Bamber

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 the age of 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

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 later 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.

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.

Prior to the 2015 season, Bamber signed with Porsche Motorsport as a works driver. In January 2015, he 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. 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. Bamber 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.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Bamber), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.