Wanganui teenager Earl Bamber has put himself in pole position to give the new Ferrari-powered Black Beauty its race debut at the first round of the A1 grand prix series in the Netherlands next weekend.
Bamber, 18, came through with flying colours in the New Zealand team's finalpre-season test at Snetterton in England this morning (NZT).
He completed 68 laps and put in a solid performance despite tricky conditions, constantly changing between wet and dry.
He recorded the best lap time of 57.6 seconds, 0.1sec faster than the official A1GP test car also running on the same day.
"We improved the car all day, and felt really positive at the end of the test," Bamber said.
"Compared with the previous A1GP car I drove, the new package has much more torque and power."
First choice driver Chris van der Drift is unavailable for the first round because of a scheduling conflict with the European Formula Master championship which he currently leads.
The choice is between the experienced Jonny Reid who piloted New Zealand to second overall in the previous two A1GP World Cup of Motorsport series, and Bamber, the team's rookie driver last year.
Reid is available if needed to drive Black Beauty this season, but his focus is now on Indy Lights series in the United States, the stepping stone to IndyCars which Scott Dixon won for a second time this year.
New Zealand team owner Colin Giltrap was impressed with Bamber's performance.
" Earl was very at home in the car today. These new cars are a wonderful piece of machinery."
The team said a decision on Black Beauty's driver at Zandvoort on October 4-5 will be made in the next few days.
