KEY POINTS:
Young New Zealand racing driver Earl Bamber has reunited with the Meritus team for a tilt at the Formula V6 Asia championship which begins this weekend in Malaysia.
Bamber, 17, drove the Malaysian-based team to victory in the 2006 Formula BMW Asia championship in his rookie year.
The Wanganui teen says this year's V6 championship is crucial to his hopes of getting a drive in next year's expanded Asian GP2 championship.
"That's where I want to be in 2009 so it makes sense to go back up this year and refamiliarise myself with the cars and the circuits," Bamber said.
His teammate at Meritus will be Briton James Grunwell, who made his debut in the Formula BMW Asia class in 2006 and finished second overall in 2007.
Meritus, run by expatriate Irishman Peter Thompson, is the most successful team operating in Malaysia, having claimed 27 Asian titles since 1995 in Formula BMW Pacific, Formula V6 Asia and the new GP2 Asia championships.
Veteran New Zealand driver Ken Smith, who raced Bamber in this year's Toyota Racing Series, has no doubts over the teenager's talents.
"The guy is good, there's no doubt about that," said Smith.
"He's got a lot of talent, he has the right attitude and he is 100 per cent dedicated to being a racing driver."
The 3-litre Formula V6 Asia cars Bamber is set to drive are bigger and considerably more powerful than the cars in the Toyota Racing Series.
But Bamber completed a limited test/race programme with Meritus last year and has test-driven New Zealand's A1 grand prix car three times.
This year's Formula V6 Asia championship kicks off with two double-header rounds at Malaysia's Sepang circuit this month and next before heading to Sentul in Indonesia in July, Chengdu in China in September, Okayama in Japan in October then back to China for a gala final at Shanghai in November.
- NZPA
