AUSF3: Earl Bamber Eastern Creek Saturday notes

POSITIVE START FOR BUSY BAMBER

Fast-rising young New Zealand racing driver Earl Bamber (Opes Prime Team BRM) has had a positive start to his 2007/08 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 championship campaign, snaring second and front row starting spots for tomorrow's two races at the A1GP meeting at Sydney's Eastern Creek circuit today.

After setting the second quickest lap times in both practice sessions at the track on Friday, the 17-year-old from Wanganui was third quickest in the first qualifying session and runner-up in the second.

That means he will start the first race of the 2007/08 Kumho Tyres series on the inside of the second row of the grid behind pole-sitter Leanne Tander and her fellow front row starter Nathan Carratti, and the second from the front row beside Opes Prime Team BRM teammate Carratti.

It's been a busy couple of days for Bamber, who on Friday completed his third pair of rookie test sessions of the season for A1 Team.NZL.

He did well too, setting the sixth quickest time across the two sessions behind Australia's John Martin, Team Lebanon's Sydney-based driver Chris Alajajian, Great Britain's James Winslow (another driver combining testing duties with a drive in this weekend's Kumho Tyres), Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy and France's Jonathan Cochet.

-credit: www.earlbamber.com