Motor racing: Bamber stays in contention

PODIUM POSSESSION: Earl Bamber keeps getting amongst the champagne in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, but remains a step behind his Polish rival Kuba Giermaziek. PHOTO/FILE

Wanganui expat Earl Bamber continues to stake his real estate on the podium, but the top spot remains elusive after round six of the 2014 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Hungaroring, Hungary at the weekend.

In his rookie year at this level, Bamber remains second in the championship behind Poland's Kuba Giermaziek after Bamber came third at Hungaroring, to follow up from his second place the week before at the Hockenheimring round in Germany on July 20.

Held as a support race for the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Bamber qualified second behind Giermaziek on pole, narrowly ahead of last week's winner and defending champion Nicki Thiim of Denmark.

Watching online was Wanganui supporter Lyndsay Tait, who said the Kiwi only took the next starting spot by six-1000ths of a second.

"While Earl did a fantastic job to be sitting second on the grid it was actually a slight disadvantage as that side of the track was 'dirty' as it was off the racing line," said Tait.

Thiim managed to squeeze past Bamber at the beginning.

"There was the usual amount of bump and grind and associated carnage further down the grid, but fortunately the leaders all escaped that and, this time, there were no hold-ups on the yellow flags," said Tait.

No one in the top four was able to make a serious challenge to change position during the first half of the race, before Giermaziek and Thiim began to pull away from Bamber and a fight developed behind him for fourth.

"This left Earl pretty much on his own sitting, about 0.7 of a second behind second place ..." said Tait.

Bamber settled into a comfortable pace to maintain his position, with Giermaziak driving on for the win while Thiim, who did not race the first three rounds of the series, settled for runner-up.

Giermaziak extended his series lead by moving on to 96 points, but Bamber remains in contention on 87, with a bit of a break on Germany's Michael Ammermller, who sits on 64 points after coming fifth in the last four rounds.

There will now be a break before the next race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on August 24.