KEY POINTS:
Young New Zealand racing driver Earl Bamber celebrated his 100th single-seater race in style early this morning, winning the second race at the seventh round of the European Formula Master championship at the Imola circuit in Italy.
After quickly dispatching pole-man Josef Kral, fellow front row starter Bamber was never headed, pulling out a 3.8 second advantage early on and eventually crossing the finish line 6.089 ahead.
Third was to Swiss driver Fabio Leimer, fourth Latvian Harald Schlegelmilch and fifth championship title prospect Michael Ammermuller from Germany.
It was another impressive performance from 18-year-old kart-turned-car star Bamber, who claimed two third places in his northern hemisphere debut at a round of Italy's Formula Master championship at Mugello last weekend.
He qualified sixth then finished seventh in the first race at the seventh round of the main European championship at Imola on Saturday.
As well as winning the race outright, Bamber also claimed best rookie honours and with his ADM Motorsport teammate Tomas Pivoda he won the Best Team-mates award.
Afterwards Bamber said that, bar a not quite perfect start in which he got a little bit much wheelspin, the race could hardly have gone better.
"The car was very good, particularly in the early laps and for that I'd like to say a big thank you to the guys in the ADM Motorsport team.
"Because the car was so good I was able to put my head down and build a bit of a buffer. I didn't quite get the start I wanted but I got a good run on Josef at the end of the first lap which allowed me to draft up to him on the straight and outbrake him into the first corner. Then it was just a matter of keeping an eye on the times and being consistent."
Bamber believes his win this morning will reflect well on both the Asian and New Zealand motor racing scenes.
"Obviously people here are aware of Chris (van der Drift) and the fact that he's a Kiwi but when I was on the front row this morning a lot of people were asking the guys in the team who I was and where I was from?"
Van der Drift continues to lead this year's European Formula Master series points standings. But after qualifying quickest and finishing second to Leimar in Saturday's race, he was forced to miss the second race when a driveshaft failed on the way to the grid.
- NZPA
