FEATURE: BRENDON HARTLEY AND EARL BAMBER – IN NEW DIRECTIONZ

The end of Porsche’s WEC program means new challenges for Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber

The end of Porsche’s LMP1 program means that two of its star drivers, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber, will take on new challenges for 2018

Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley on top of the podium at Le Mans

THE NEW Zealand national anthem is called ‘God Defend New Zealand’.

If you are a motor racing fan, nearly anywhere in the world, the chances are that you have heard that a bit recently. Quite apart from the fact that NZ drivers have done most of the winning in Supercars this season the sheer number of our Kiwi cousins lighting up the world’s tracks has been nothing other than impressive.

The country has two World Champions from the just-decided World Endurance Championship. By sealing the title a round early Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber will have the pressure off at the final round in Bahrain next week, so with co-driver Timo Bernhard, they can enjoy having one last race against Toyota before Porsche takes on new challenges.

That means new battlefields for the drivers as well. It has been well-documented that Hartley is now a Grand Prix driver and he has made waves in his first three races with Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Brendon Hartley will drive for Toro Rosso in 2018

The way he has made the transition from Sports Prototypes to GP cars has been impressive.

“I was good to have my first two Grands Prix at tracks I was familiar with – and to which I had just been,” he says.

“Learning a modern Formula 1 car, with the huge downforce that they have now, is a much bigger challenge than learning a new racetrack, for a driver. As drivers, we have so many tracks in our bank of knowledge, learning a track is actually quite a quick process for us. We also have simulators and looking at other drivers’ on-board laps, that helps.”

For all that though, the experience he has gained with Porsche has stood him in good stead to take on the pressures of GP racing.

“No question,” he says.

“In terms of working with such a big project, with the professional pressure that goes along with racing at Le Mans, and working with incredibly talented teammates, in single-seaters you often do not share anything with your teammates. In here [LMP1], we are all here together so you end up learning a lot more from them than you would in other categories.

“But it is not like I was going into Sportscar racing in the hope of going back into Formula 1. In terms of operations and how a team operates at a racetrack there are a lot of similarities. Working with teammates so closely – like Mark Webber last year and Timo Bernhard this year – I think that is something that is very beneficial for any driver.

“Both had a steep learning curve but I came in [to F1] very relaxed. I was calm and collected and that is how I wanted to do it. I have been smiling; I have enjoyed every moment.

“In a lot of ways, there have been similarities. I went in with no previous testing, so in terms of where I have gone, I don’t think that I could have had a better preparation.”

Brendon Hartley on the podium at Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta

One of the things he has had to deal with has been moving from one series to another, and around the world. In an eight-week period, he has not been home even for one meal.

“It started at Petit Le Mans,” he says. “From the US to Japan, back to the US, Mexico, China, Brazil, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. We are based in Monaco, our friends are there but I still call New Zealand home. We get to go there for a month over Christmas, which I cherish. A life on the road, it is nice to be home for a change.”

Moving from one series to any other is always a challenge, but going ‘in’ and ‘out’ of F1 and the WEC on consecutive weekends has been a big ask, made easier by the attitudes of Porsche’s LMP1 team and STR.

“The team has been awesome, in terms of integrating,” Hartley says of the latter. “In Austin we kept it pretty simple; a Formula 1 car is very complex, to get the most out of it. It is a different car, with different tyres. Putting a Formula 1 weekend together, there are a lot of toys to play with. We kept it simple and I felt very relaxed.

“Actually I feel at home in the Formula 1 paddock. I know a lot of the people and one of my best buddies is Daniel Ricciardo. I know Stoffel Vandoorne and I have raced against [Marcus] Ericsson. I know a lot of the people in the pitlane from the other categories I have raced in. The nice thing is, I feel really… respected, in terms of what we have done in the Porsche LMP1 program. I had a good feeling in the pits, I felt at home immediately. There is a lot to learn about driving the cars but I feel good in the paddock.”

Of course second chances are rare in F1. As we speak Vitaly Petrov is not far away, having made the move from F1 – a podium with Renault, no less – to LMP2 in the WEC. Hartley has worked hard to rebuild his career after not ‘making it’ the first time around.

“Back in 2010 I has spent two years in the Formula 1 paddock,” he says.

“But I was not racing, and I was not performing well, and I was not happy. There were a lot of reasons why I was not performing well and, to be honest, when I was released from  the Red Bull program, I was not bitter or angry in any way. I knew that I did not perform. It was almost some sense of relief.

“I had to pick myself up. I had to get on the phone myself. I had to, in a way, re-discover myself. I learnt a lot about myself and I think I came back a lot stronger.

“I had to make a lot of calls myself – together with some advisors – and I got a lot from that. I learnt how much I loved racing, again. I had a lot of doubts over my career, and I think that is something a lot of sportspeople have. That did not have a lot to do with being in the Red Bull program; I was 18, I was not ready, I did not deal with pressure well. I found endurance racing and I loved it, I had room to grow and I have learned so much in this project, of being in a big environment with a lot of engineers.”

At this point there is one more race for the Porsche 919, a unique, V4-powered car that has a Hybrid system that gives it phenomenal performance. Short its lifespan may have been but it will go down in history as one of the marque’s most successful racers.

Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley together in the Porsche garage

Bamber takes up the point.

“I am definitely going to miss the speed. I will miss the downforce,” he says.

“They are incredible racing cars. It is going to be sad to see them parked up in the museum. But I think that they still have some good things for them to do and that we might see them around a little bit.

“I will also miss the program with the guys. I came from Carrera Cup in 2014; I was a ‘Cup Car Kid’.

“I remember the first time I met my engineer Kyle. He had just joined Porsche and he said, ‘So what do you know about the Hybrid systems and the diffs and regeneration and stuff?’ And I said, ‘Dude, I am from Cup, I don’t know anything!’

“The first time I ever went into a [engineering] meeting, Mark was in there and everyone was so experienced. They were talking about balance – and I can tell balance – and I said, ‘Maybe we should put in a bit of roll bar’. And they kept talking and I thought, ‘I am going to shut up!’ I just needed to learn, and absorb and watch how the endurance program played out.

“You can learn so much from these people. Normally you have two or three engineers analysing data; we have 200. It is very, very special to be a part of that program, and you have to be able to learn. The experiences I will carry with me for the rest of my life. And to have success with it as well? That is pretty special.”

There is a new season coming along soon, and both drivers will have new challenges. Hartley declines to talk about what he will be doing but smiles at the suggestion he is confirmed at STR – in spite of team principal Franz Tost virtually confirming it, twice, in Mexico. Suffice to say that Hartley looks entirely comfortable when others talk about it.

Equally Bamber seems to know what he will be doing but…

The Porsche 919 Hybrid on track

“I can’t say! Definitely I will be in one of the GT cars, in one of the RSRs. The goal is to do all the big races, like the Bathurst 12 Hour and the Spa and Nurburgring 24 Hours, Le Mans and so on. I get to do all the big endurance races in the world and drive factory cars.”

And… why New Zealanders?

“I don’t have a good answer,” Hartley grins.

“Scott Dixon, Richie Stanaway, Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy in Asia… I don’t have an answer. There is a bit of a do-it-yourself attitude in New Zealand, I was getting my hands dirty, changing engines after school. The competition was fierce, and they were good racetracks. In my first season in the Toyota Racing Series, I got picked up by Red Bull. Racing in New Zealand, I never in a million years had a budget to come and race in Europe. From grassroots in New Zealand, I got picked up, from a small country, and I don’t really have an answer to why there are so many good drivers coming out of New Zealand. I am proud to be one of many Kiwis flying the flag.”

And with that, bang on queue, Bamber throws in that his brother Will has just finished second in the Carrera Cup Asia race (though he is too modest to mention that he owns the car). He was beaten to the flag in Shanghai by Chris van der Drift. A K1-2.

The sparkling wine gets sprayed on the podium wasn’t from Marlborough, surely?

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DENNY AND AMON

Chris Amon during the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours

THE VIEW from the top step of the Le Mans podium is wonderful.

I know, because I asked the two Kiwis who have stood there.

“That was super-special,” says Bamber (who is, remember, a double Le Mans winner).

“I mean, the first time around, sharing the podium with Brendon, we were in different cars. The story is so surreal; we drove in the same go-kart club!

“It is not like it would be if it was, say, Richie Stanaway. I never raced karts against him; but Brendon is a year older than me and he taught me driving. His old man built the engines! We shared a go-kart trailer. We went our separate ways and then we came back, in the same car, the same manufacturer. It was incredible.

“It was so special to give Brendon and Timo the win. They have been with the program since the beginning. They really deserved the win, they put the effort in so much.”

It was not less special for first time winner Hartley.

“Incredible. At the end of the year it will sink in more,” he says.

“Le Mans, the weeks after that were, they were an amazing story, to share that with Earl and Timo. We took very different career paths and we ended up back together. We spent summers together – and it was not like that with any other karter in New Zealand. We were close as kids and it is an amazing story.”

EYES ON OCTOBER

Earl Bamber has had his eyes on a Bathurst 1000 drive for a while

RACING DRIVERS are good at checking calendars and when the 2018 dates for the WEC and Supercars came out, they lined up.

Many drivers want to race at Bathurst and the 12 Hour gives many GT stars the chance to do that. Bamber has done that race – now he wants to drive in the Bathurst 1000.

“Going to Bathurst and racing in the 1000 has been on my radar for quite a long time. I would love to do that race; all the enduros, especially after winning Le Mans and doing all the big races around the world, like Daytona.

“But as a Kiwi, the Bathurst 1000 is like our Le Mans. I can remember watching Bathurst since I was a kid – like, five and six years old.”

That is why he was at the Gold Coast, talking to come of the people who matter in the Supercars pitlane.

“I went to the guys that I know there and obviously, Jeromy [Moore] is in our team. When I went there some years ago I got quite a cold and hard reception from some of the team bosses. Some of them were… not arrogant, but like, if you wanted to do it, you had to do Super2. I get that but, I think that there are guys outside of Supercars as well who can do a good job. But I think that is changing; I think that Richie is changing things quickly. And I think that the new cars is quite a bit more… normal. It is not like something like the cars were in the past, with a six-speed H-pattern gearbox, that would have been like a different world if you were coming from Europe.

“But now it is a bit more aligned. They are beautiful racecars; they have a high level of engineering, I think they are not so specialised. They need more of a normal driving technique and I think Richie shows that very well. I think Richie is opening a few doors for some European guys.

“If I can do it, I will be down there. I think it is something that is so cool, and I have a huge respect for the drivers at the moment. Look at Chaz Mostert in GTs; he was mega at Bathurst and so quick. But you have to expect that.

“All of Australia’s best drivers are in Supercars. For the Kiwis, you have to go off and do your own thing. I did go-karting in Australia and the level is high there, so there is no reason to think that, if they went overseas and did GTs they would be at a high level as well.

“But they do not know the names so much. When I was talking to Porsche I said, ‘I want to go and do Bathurst’, and they said to me, ‘Yes, we are going to go to the 12 Hour’. I said, ‘No, no, the Bathurst 1000’. ‘Okay. What is that?’ It is not on the radar for some.”

By PHIL BRANAGAN

Article originally published in Issue 1723 of Auto Action.

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