Bamber: N24 Addition Could Boost Independent Cup Entries

Earl Bamber believes the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli could see a growth of Independent Cup entries as some Nürburgring 24 teams might be tempted to expand their programs into the rest of the championship.

The New Zealander won the N24 with Frikadelli Racing Team this year but also competes in the IGTC as an owner-driver, with his Earl Bamber Motorsport organization running a Porsche 911 GT3 R for the father-and-son duo of Stephen and Brenton Grove.

Stephen Grove is entered into the IGTC’s Independent Cup, where Bronze-rated drivers score points if they contest a race in a category where a Bronze is required.

Grove Racing competed in Pro-Am in the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour and Kyalami 9 Hour, with Bamber and Anton de Pasquale alternating as co-drivers, before all four drivers linked up to form a Bronze Cup entry at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Bamber predicted that the addition of the N24 to next year’s IGTC calendar might not necessarily lead to an influx of entries for the German endurance classic.

Instead, he reckoned that some of the N24’s longtime Pro-Am entries could instead be tempted to join the global GT3 series.

Independent Cup drivers are not required to stay with the same team for the full season, but that can happen as evidenced by Stephen Grove’s cooperation with EBM.

“For a lot of the Am guys Nürburgring is a bit too much, honestly,” Bamber told Sportscar365. “But I think they’re still going to have the drop race [rule].

“So I think what that might do is have a couple of [N24] teams go, ‘Let’s join IGTC.’

“Wochenspiegel, I could see them coming out and going, ‘Hey let’s do Bathurst, then Nürburgring, see how we shape out in Spa.’

“I could see them, the Huber Racing car, the Walkenhorst Am car, a couple of them joining the IGTC ranks.”

Bamber suggested that the inclusion of the N24 in the IGTC is “good for the sport in general” from a customer racing perspective.

“I think it is good because I think now IGTC encapsulates all of the big races,” he said.

“Bathurst, Spa, Nürburgring and Indy on each of the continents [sic], so I think it is a good thing.

“It also sort of ties it all into a championship where you’ll see the best driving crew and team and everything like that, obviously win overall.

“I think it’s going to be interesting to see how it flushes out rules-wise. That’s probably my biggest curiosity as a driver and also [as a] team owner, is how does that all work?

“I think IGTC is really good at the moment, we run a Pro-Am car and to be honest our Pro-Am guys really love it.

“To be able to go to all the big races but have a championship that accumulates and them being the best crew and Am driver in the world as well I think is something really good.”

Bamber added that the N24 will enjoy a “heightened presence” as an IGTC round, and that it will persuade more fully privateer teams to join the event in the wake of Frikadelli’s victory.

“I think it’ll probably also mean more to finish third or fifth or sixth points-wise as well,” he said. 

“Because [currently] nobody, no one cares if you finish fifth there, do you know what I mean? Rather I think it just gives it a heightened presence.

“I think also hopefully it brings more privateer cars to the Nürburgring, but at the same time, I think like with what we did with the Ferrari with Klaus [Abbelen], should also help and encourage other people to join the race.

“Because they can see that it’s possible to win without a crazy big manufacturer support and being one of the big teams.”