KEY POINTS:
Fast-rising young New Zealand racing driver Earl Bamber had a strong start to his 2008-09 GP2 Asia series campaign with second place in the feature race at the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix meeting in Shanghai on Sunday.
Fresh from his podium finish in the rain for A1 Team NZL in Holland a fortnight ago, the 18-year-old from Wanganui proved just as competitive in his GP2 class debut in China. He qualified his My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara ninth and started the 120km feature race from the second row of the grid after finishing sixth in his debut race in the category on Saturday.
The feature race, held just before the Formula One race that McLaren's Lewis Hamilton ran away with, was won by Italian Davide Valsecchi, who finished Saturday's race in eighth place and started the feature from pole courtesy of the second race's reverse top eight format.
"I had a strong start and went to the outside in the first corner. It worked again and I managed to get myself just behind Valsecchi so that I gained one position," said Bamber.
"After that I stayed just behind him and towards the ninth lap I was really pushing him and did a couple of really good laps, and just got better and better. By mid-race, I had caught him [Valsecchi] up and was fighting hard. I was still being careful to maintain control."
With only a handful of races in a full-on ground-effect race car under his belt, Bamber has shown he can cope with the added grip and will push as far and as hard as the car will allow. Despite setting average practice times, with new tyres and in race mode, Bamber was a threat all race.
"Towards the end I was a bit tired, but it is a great start for the championship. The competition in GP2 Asia is harder than what I have experienced until now, but I'm pleased with the way I handled it. The car is fantastic, but I am still on a learning curve.
"If the team gets to work a bit more on the car, we will have other good races. I had never dreamt of such an incredible result having ranked 23rd in our first practice session. This was a great result, and on my father's birthday too."
Team founder Peter Thompson, who put the deal together to get Bamber a seat in GP2, was more than pleased with his young protege's performance.
"I am so happy to have the two cars at the finish and Earl Bamber on the podium in only his second race," said Thompson.
"The team worked so hard and I would like to congratulate the mechanics, the engineers and our team principal Gianfranco Bielli for this incredible result. It is a fantastic achievement."
Bamber, a former winner of the Formula BMW Asia title and frontrunner in Formula V6 Asia over the last couple of years, finished before Meritus teammate Alex Yoong.
Malaysia's former A1 GP and Formula One driver Yoong qualified 23rd and finished the first race 14th and the feature race ninth.
Meanwhile, the other Kiwi driver in the race, recently crowned European Formula Master champion Chris Van der Drift, qualified 16th, finishing the first race seventh and the second race fourth.
Van der Drift and his Trident teammate Giacomo Ricci were relegated to the back of the grid, but Van der Drift fought his way up into the points in the first race. The reverse grid for the second race meant Van der Drift started on the front and again finished in the points.
Van der Drift said: "I'm really glad for today's result. I ended a tough race in a very profitable manner and without making mistakes. After the team solved the problem we had in qualifying, I finally had the chance to use 100 per cent of my potential as well as the car's. I believe we still have some work to do to catch the top-running drivers, but I'm really looking forward to it. The pit stop was really fast and well scheduled."
Scoring in both races to reach eight points, Bamber is fourth on the table heading to the second round of the series at Dubai in December.
