Will Bamber has shown his worth in a intense Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America weekend at Watkins Glen, with a podium finish for the Kiwi and teammate Darius Trinka in the first race, which was unable to be replicated in the second race after a significant red flag period and a late caution ended his hopes.
Race 1
On the start, Bamber moved his way up to second in the Pro class, just behind the Pro-Am leader of Danny Formal. After a few laps, the Kiwi moved down to third in class as the #88 of Taurino made his way past.
Soon, Bamber started to tuck into a groove as he focused on preserving his car and nursing his Hankook tyres, as the leader Morad ran away. Still, Bamber kept on the back of Taurino and did not let him get out of his sight.
With thirty-six minutes to go, the #19 Am car found the wall before the final straight, but was able to keep the car running to continue – preventing a full course yellow.
Soon after, while Bamber sat in third, the #40 car became stranded on track and brought out the first full course yellow of the race.
When the race restarted, Bamber elected to extend his strategy two more laps than his counterparts as he moved into first with seventeen minutes to go.
At the pit-stop, Bamber handed the #33 over to his co-driver Darius Trinka, who sat in third with fifteen to go.
It did not take long for more chaos to almost ensue, with the #81 spinning with ten minutes to go while Bamber’s co-driver sat in second, just nine tenths off the lead.
As the clock ticked down Trinka started to edge closer and closer to the leader, with the gap getting down to as small as a four tenths with four minutes to go.
However, it was De La Torre that held on for the win, with Bamber’s co driver not able to make the move, finishing just over half a second behind the winners.
This result marks Bamber’s second consecutive podium, after winning the last race out in Laguna Seca.
Race 2
After a solid race one, Bamber and Trinka both had every reason to be positive heading into the second fifty-minute race.
It was Trinka that elected to start the race, and soon slotted into fifth. However, the race was soon turned on its head as a huge crash out of the esses left three cars strewn over the track, with the #46 car getting t-boned directly in the drivers door.
The race was soon neutralised, but due to time constraints, the clock kept ticking down.
It was a significant waiting period as drivers waited for the track to be cleared, and racing soon got underway with just over fifteen minutes remaining.
Soon after, the race resumed with Trinka heading in the lane for his driver change, meaning Bamber could finish the race off.
Bamber was handed the car in fifth place in class, meaning he had work to do before the chequered flag to bring home a third consecutive podium.
However, another crash through the bus-stop chicane left the race under yellow flag while Bamber sat in fourth, with the race ending under caution. This left Bamber sitting off the podium, bringing an unfortunate end to the race for the Kiwi.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America will now take a short break before resuming on the 30th of July (NZST).
