Wanganui’s 19-year-old Earl Bamber will make a dash for the New Zealand Motor Cup at this weekend’s Toyota Racing Series event being held at the Hampton Downs circuit (6-7 February).
The third round of five in the 2010 series, the three-race programme is headlined by Sunday afternoon’s 20-lap race for the prestigious trophy, previously won by the likes of Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren.
Fresh from double victory at the previous round near Timaru, Bamber, in the VnC Cocktails Mad Butcher Toyota F40 heads the Triple X Motorsport team that includes New Plymouth’s Stefan Webling driving the Horizon Energy Services Miles Toyota car.
Having never raced at the brand new location situated mid-way between Hamilton and Auckland, the 2.8 kilometre circuit offers a new challenge for the pairing – having to learn their way round.
“Hopefully I will able to draw on my experience of learning many different circuits,” said Bamber ahead of the mid-season weekend. “We’ve got a top quality field – one that I think is the most competitive ever with the likes of Mitch Evans and Estonian Sten Pentus. So it’s going to be tough going, and equal playing field from that point-of-view. Plus I can draw on guys in the team to get us in front and build further on our race victories – because we still do have some pace to find in the dry.”
Bamber’s rapid return to form has him looking forward to driving the newly established facility, despite not having partaken in pre-season testing enjoyed by others in the field.
“The track is very wide and the thing I like, it has a lot of elevation change which is something we don’t see a lot of at New Zealand circuits. So I’m looking forward to driving it - as it will be similar to some of the European circuits I’ve raced; the up and down, blind turn-in and braking points. It will be gruelling but everyone will basically be starting with a blank sheet of paper.”
21-year-old Stefan Webling is similarly eager to measure his gains. Shadowing Bamber during his rookie season, Webling’s access to team data and engineering has elevated the apprentice mechanics championship aim. Running as high as third in his last race, he was the victim of a mid-field melee that pin-balled him from his position.
Starting with an hour testing Thursday afternoon, official practise begins on the Friday before the opening race grid positions are decided in Saturday morning’s qualifying session. With a 15-lap race Saturday afternoon and late Sunday morning, the afternoon 56 kilometre trophy race should take less than 21 minutes.
Currently in third place in the overall series standings, Bamber is 27 points adrift of leader Pentus, with 75 points for a race win.
