Bamber is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning in 2015 alongside Nico Hülkenberg and Nick Tandy, and in 2017 with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. He also became overall champion of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship alongside the latter trio. He won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTLM class in 2019 and the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2023. Prior to his endurance career he was champion of the 2014 Porsche Supercup and won the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia twice, in 2013 and 2014.
Bamber was born in Whanganui, New Zealand, to Paul and Maureen Bamber, and grew up on a farm in the small settlement of Jerusalem on the Whanganui River. He attended Wanganui Collegiate School alongside his younger brother, William. He began in kart racing and won his first title aged 12 at the North Island Sprint Championships in the Junior 100cc Yamaha Restricted category, and his first national title at the 2004 Sprint Kart Championship in Auckland. That same year he secured a podium at the Rotax Max Grand Final in Portugal.
Bamber progressed through single-seater series and was ranked sixth among future stars by driverdb.com in 2008. At 15 he moved to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, then competed in Asia, winning the Asian Formula BMW title. He achieved pole positions, fastest laps, and podiums in Formula Renault V6 and Australian Formula 3. In 2008 he was runner-up in both Formula Renault V6 Asia and the Toyota Racing Series New Zealand. In 2009 he contested rounds of the A1 Grand Prix for the New Zealand team, finishing on the podium three times, and also stood on the podium in GP2 Asia. In 2010 he was again runner-up in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series.
Bamber made his first Porsche one-make series appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with Malaysian team Nexus Racing, battling all season with Martin Ragginger before winning the championship. He also won the Bathurst 12 Hour Class B with Grove Racing alongside team owner Stephen Grove and Ben Barker. At the Macau Grand Prix he won the Carrera Cup Asia race, defeating Sébastien Loeb. He then won the Porsche Motorsport International Cup Scholarship shootout in Oschersleben, earning €200,000 in funding toward his 2014 Supercup season.
Bamber raced with FACH Auto Tech in the Porsche Supercup, winning the drivers championship with 155 points ahead of Kuba Giermaziak on 132, becoming the first New Zealander to win the Supercup title and the first rookie to do so. He also retained the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title, winning eight of the ten races he contested. With the support of Team 75 Bernhard he contested ten rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, scoring two wins and finishing second in the championship at season's end. He also replaced the injured Richard Lietz at Petit Le Mans in the United SportsCar Championship, joining Patrick Long and Michael Christensen; their second place secured Porsche North America, run by Core Autosport, the manufacturers title.
Bamber signed with Porsche Motorsport as a works driver. In January 2015 he joined Jörg Bergmeister and Frédéric Makowiecki in the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR at the 24 Hours of Daytona, finishing seventh. He then joined Nick Tandy and Nico Hülkenberg for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 919 Hybrid. Car No. 19 started third on the grid after Porsche qualified first, second, and third, and won comfortably. Bamber claimed his first GTLM pole at Road America in his first qualifying attempt as a factory driver, bettering the lap record by more than a full second. He also made a guest appearance in the WEC 6 Hours of Nürburgring in the No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR and debuted in the FIA GT World Cup at Macau.
Bamber continued in the 911 RSR for Porsche North America and Porsche Motorsport across IMSA and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was the highest-placed New Zealand driver at the 54th Rolex 24 at Daytona, where his team finished third in GTLM and ninth overall. He secured a second Bathurst 12 Hour Class B win with Grove Motorsport alongside Stephen Grove and Scott McLaughlin. At the 12 Hours of Sebring in changing conditions, his No. 912 team finished third.
On 3 December 2016 Bamber was confirmed as a member of the Porsche LMP1 team alongside Nick Tandy and André Lotterer for the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. He co-drove the No. 2 car with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, replacing the retired Mark Webber. The trio won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA WEC Drivers and Teams championships.
For the 2023 season Bamber joined Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook in the Hypercar category of the WEC, driving a Cadillac V-Series.R run by Chip Ganassi Racing.
In August 2020 Bamber drove for Richard Childress Racing in the Xfinity Series race at the Daytona road course. His connection to RCR came via his father, who was a hunting partner of team owner Richard Childress in the 2000s. Bamber started 29th in the UNOH 188 but finished 33rd after hitting a kerb on the backstretch chicane, sending the car airborne.
Bamber uses Stilo helmets featuring a silver fern design on the sides, with four red stars representing the Southern Cross on top. He has the number 19 on the back of one helmet — the same number as his Porsche 919 Hybrid.
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