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.

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 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

2015

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.

2016

In 2016, Bamber continued 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. Bamber made a successful return at the Bathurst 12 Hour with a second 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 No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR finished third.

2017 The 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans race-winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber

On 3 December 2016, Bamber was confirmed as a member of the Porsche LMP1 team with Nick Tandy and André Lotterer to contest 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. He co-drove the No. 2 car with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, replacing the retired Mark Webber.

Hypercar racing The No. 2 V-Series.R belonging to Bamber and Lynn at the 2024 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps For the 2023 season, Bamber would join Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook in the Hypercar category of the World Endurance Championship, piloting a Cadillac V-Series.R ran by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Other racing

In August 2020, Bamber joined NASCAR team Richard Childress Racing for the Xfinity Series race on the Daytona road course. Bamber had become associated with team owner Richard Childress via his father, who was hunting partners with Childress in the 2000s; Bamber and RCR attempted to work a three-race deal after Bamber participated in oval racing with RCR driver Ty Dillon, but it failed to materialise. Bamber started 29th in the UNOH 188 but finished 33rd after hitting a kerb on the backstretch chicane, which caused his car to go airborne.

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.

Motorsports career results

Racing career summary

Season still in progress. ‡ Team standings.

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 ZealandNEDSPRNEDFEACZESPRCZEFEAMYSSPRMYSFEACHNSPRCHNFEANZLSPRNZLFEAAUSSPRAUSFEARSASPRRSAFEAMEXSPRMEXFEACHNSPRCHNFEAGBRSPRGBRFEA 2nd 93 2008–09 NEDSPR NEDFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA RSASPRRSAFEA PORSPR PORFEA GBRSPRGBRFEA 7th 36

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 CHNFEA CHNSPR UAEFEA UAESPR BHRFEA BHRSPR QATFEA QATSPR MALFEA MALSPR BHRFEA BHRSPR 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 RacingSEPSHG SHG ZIC ZIC ORD ORD INJ INJ SIN SHG SHG 1st 217 2014 LKM Racing SEP SHG SHG ZIC ZIC FUJ FUJ SEP SEP SIN SHG SHG 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 BernhardHOCHOC OSCOSCHUNHUNNORNORRBRRBRNÜRNÜRLAULAUSACSACHOCHOC 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 Pts 2013 FACH Auto Tech ESP MON GBR GER HUN BEL ITA UAE UAE NC 0 2014 FACH Auto Tech ESP MON AUT GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA USA 1st 155

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 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 2017 Walkinshaw GT3 Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R Class APP 44 DNF DNF 2018 Craft-Bamboo Racing Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R Class APP 271 5th 3rd

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 2015 Porsche Team Nico Hülkenberg Nick Tandy Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 395 1st 1st 2016 Porsche Motorsport Jörg Bergmeister Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 911 RSR GTEPro 140 DNF DNF 2017 Porsche Team Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 367 1st 1st 2018 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR GTEPro 334 27th 10th 2019 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR GTEPro 342 22nd 3rd 2021 WeatherTech Racing Laurens Vanthoor Cooper MacNeil Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTEPro 139 DNF DNF 2023 Cadillac Racing Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 341 3rd 3rd 2024 Cadillac Racing Alex Lynn Álex Palou Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 311 7th 7th 2025 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Sébastien Bourdais Jenson Button Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 386 7th 7th 2026 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Jack Aitken Sébastien Bourdais Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 218 DNF DNFSources:

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 2016 Manthey Racing Nick Tandy Kévin Estre Patrick Pilet Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 1 DNF DNF 2018 Manthey Racing Romain Dumas Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 66 DNF DNF 2019 Manthey Racing Michael Christensen Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 Pro 156 DSQ DSQ 2020 KCMG Jörg Bergmeister Timo Bernhard Dennis Olsen Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 Pro 83 13th 13th 2021 Frikadelli Racing Team Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Nick Tandy Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 Pro 26 DNF DNF 2022 KCMG Dennis Olsen Nick Tandy Porsche 911 GT3 R SP9 Pro 149 DNF DNF 2023 Frikadelli Racing Team Nicky Catsburg Felipe Fernández Laser David Pittard Ferrari 296 GT3 SP9 Pro 162 1st 1st

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Season still in progress.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Car Co-driver Position Laps 2018 Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore ZB Shane van Gisbergen 5th 161

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series NASCAR Xfinity Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts Ref 2020 Richard Childress Racing 21 Chevy DAY LVS CAL PHO DAR CLT BRI ATL HOM HOM TAL POC IRC KEN KEN TEX KAN ROA DRC33 DOV DOV DAY DAR RCH RCH BRI LVS TAL ROV KAN TEX MAR PHO 62nd 14 Ineligible for series points.