Motorsport: From Daytona to Bathurst - Earl Bamber living the dream

Earl Bamber is no stranger to the globe-trotting life of an elite race car driver but even he is marveling at where he has been over the past week.

Bamber contested the iconic Rolex 24 hour event at Daytona, Florida last weekend before boarding a plane and jetting to Australia where he will compete at this weekend's Bathurst 12 Hour race along with a number of other New Zealanders.

In the space of a week the 27-year-old will contest endurance events at two of the most renowned race tracks on the planet.

"It is certainly going to be a busy year – I have 23 races to do during the year so I will nearly be racing every weekend," Bamber told Radio Sport.

"We did Daytona already and finished sixth there in my class.

While the Bathurst 12 Hour race is growing in popularity every year Bamber will also use this event as a helpful warm-up to his Pirtek Endurance Cup campaign later in the year where he will co-drive for Kiwi Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

"It is also quite important to do some laps there at the moment to get ready for the 1000 later in the year with Shane," Bamber said.

"Shane's in the McLaren as well so it will be quite finny being up against my teammate that I am supposed to be running with later in the year. Hopefully we manage to not run into each other and piss each other off this weekend."

Bamber will drive a Porsche 911 GT3-R alongside Frenchman Kevin Estre and Belgium's Laurens Vanthoor – the same co-drivers he paired with last year.

"Last year we were actually going well but I managed to clip one of the back markers in the GT4 while leading the race so we were out early," he said.

"The car was really good last year so hopefully we can still be competitive."

A total of 17 Kiwis will contest the race with Bamber, van Gisbergen, Steven Richards, Matt Halliday, Andrew Bagnall, Jonny Reid, Scott McLaughlin, Jaxon Evans and Craig Baird entered in the Class A Pro category.

"It is a mega category," Bamber said. "Bathurst 12 Hour is definitely becoming one of the biggest races in the world to win.

"It is going to be a good reunion for the Kiwis. I think there will be a lot of quick guys – the European guys come down here but that local experience counts for a lot."

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