Photo: Evans, Bamber and Pentus
Bamber, 21, went wheel to wheel with pole man Mitch Evans and pursued him throughout the first 28 laps of the race. He had slowly closed the gap but was never confident of overtaking the Auckland youngster.
“I was hunting him down but the race was close to ending and I didn’t think we’d have got it in the remaining laps.”
Instead, when Oakura driver Stefan Webling went off at Dunlop, Bamber was able to close the gap during the resulting safety car period while Webling’s car was recovered.
A lap later, Bamber pounced as the safety car returned to pit lane.
“I lined him up and the guys were on the radio from pit lane saying ‘get on that gearbox, get in close, go now!’ I went alongside at the end of the straight and Mitch was slow into the corner so we were side by side, we touched wheels briefly and then I was through, got the gap and went for the win,” he said.
Bamber said for the next five laps he was concentrating on his cornering lines and braking points and watching Evans in the mirror.
“I was counting down those final laps, wishing the race was just one more lap, not five, but it all came out perfectly at the end.”
Bamber said the Grand Prix win was “so special”.
“I think this is the greatest win of my race career so far. Now bring on Taupo and the Championship title!”
His win of the 55th New Zealand Grand Prix also nets him a cheque for $10,000 from Toyota New Zealand.
The winner of the Manfeild round, Tauranga’s Richie Stanaway, also becomes the inaugural winner of the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup, a trophy donated by the famous motor racing family in memory of racer Ken Smith’s mother Dorothy who passed away during the Manfeild race weekend in 2009.
Though Bamber took the prestigious Grand Prix title, Evans could take solace from second place, valuable points adding to his Championship title pursuit. He also won the four round international component of the Toyota Racing Series and takes home a cheque for $5,000 and a Tissot watch.
Pentus holds the new TRS and outright lap record for Manfeild, a 1:03.801 set in race two today.
The final round of the 2009-2010 Toyota Racing Series takes place at the Taupo race track March 19-21.
Andrew Waite made sure of victory in race two for the Toyota Racing Series this morning at Manfeild.
His win was almost an exact duplicate of his race two performance at
Hampton Downs a week ago. There, Waite found himself on pole as a
result of the top six reverse grid format, and led from flag to flag.
This time was slightly more challenging. The blond Aucklander was on
the outside of the front row alongside pole man Lucas Foresti of Brazil.
At race start, he judged his launch perfectly to put the Tyre Plus
Toyota ahead of Foresti and then moved cleanly across going into the
first right hand corner.
Sam MacNeill started from second row on the grid, right behind Foresti,
and moved through to hold second place, demoting the Brazilian to third
where he came under attack from Daniel Jileson who had made a blinding
start from row four of the grid alongside Mitch Evans.
By the third lap, Waite had a two second lead over local driver MacNeill.
Estonian Sten Pentus shared the Championship points lead with
Aucklander Mitch Evans going into the race, and had moved up to shadow
Foresti.
In Dunlop, the long right hand corner that leads onto the start finish
straight, the two cars came together and both international drivers
went off the track. Pentus rejoined without his front wing, while
Foresti’s car was bellied in the gravel trap.
The incident brought out the safety car, bunching up the field behind waite and wiping out his early lead.
The leading group, Waite, MacNeill, Daniel jileson, Richie Stanaway and
Mitch Evans, stayed close together as the safety car re-entered pit
lane and racing resumed.
Wanganui’s Earl Bamber, third on points in the Championship, was also
looking to move up the standings. He got a run on Evans in the infield
turns, drew alongside down the back straight and then made a clean
outbraking pass going into Dunlop.
Tauranga’s Richie Stanaway had moved through to third, putting Daniel Jileson next in line for Bamber.
Stefan Webling hit Bamber on the front straight, shunting him into
Daniel Jileson who spun broadside off the track at high speed. Webling
as penalised with a drive-through penalty as a result of the tangle.
The damage to Bamber’s car included a flattened front wing end plate,
forcing the Wanganui driver to slow and putting an end to his charge
through the field.
Jileson regained the track in last place.
The front three remained unchallenged. Waite had pulled out a 1.5
second lead again, while Stanaway moved past MacNeill to be second.
Mitch Evans overtook Bamber, making the most of the latter’s damaged car to take a strategically important track position.
The following lap, desperate to re-take position, Bamber found himself
on the grass on the front straight, part of a three-wide fight for the
advantage at Toyota corner with Jamie McNee and Evans.
Webling was assessed a 50 second penalty at race end, meaning his
finish position ended up behind all but Sten Pentus, who had also
received a drive-through penalty for his tangle with Foresti.
Pentus had the consolation of setting a new TRS and outright lap record of
1:03.801 at an average speed of 140.441 km/h
.
The weekend’s feature race, the 35 lap New Zealand Grand Prix, starts
at 2.20 pm this afternoon with Mitch Evans on pole and Earl Bamber
alongside him. By 3.00 pm the newest name to be inscribed on this
historic trophy will be known.
