Gearbox slows Bamber in Toyota

Wanganui’s Earl Bamber has been hampered by a technical problem with the gearbox in the Toyota Racing Series FT40 car after today’s first race of the 2010 season held at Teretonga near Invercargill.

Struggling in qualifying after setup changes failed to remedy a response in handling, 19-year-old Bamber in the VnC Cocktails Mad Butcher sponsored car could only manage a fifth fastest time following a strong showing in early practise.

Dropping to sixth in the first race of the five round championship season, Bamber was disappointed with the result.

“We’ve got quite a bit of work to do. There is something strange with the gearbox that stopped me from shifting down correctly during the race. Hopefully the team can fix it for tomorrow and see what we can do in the second race,” he said.

“I’m still a bit rusty to be honest – still trying to find my way with the car balance and try get it handling back to where it should be. So we’ll keep working hard and see what we can come up with.”

A promising start for New Plymouth’s Stefan Webling ended just before the last lap when the 21-year-old left the track after a piece of body work cut the right-rear tyre of his Horizon Energy Miles Toyota sponsored car.

Queensland’s Chris Wootton, in the third car provided to Triple X Motorsport, finished his first race in tenth place. Having never raced in New Zealand before he says the Toyota FT40 open-wheel cars take a bit of getting used to for such a high-speed circuit.