Why a Le Mans winner is heading into the “unknown world” of NASCAR
Comparing Porsche's 919 HYBRID LMP1 to NASCAR is motorsport's equivalent of apples and oranges, but this weekend one of Weissach's top works aces will pit his skills against the regulars and revive the tradition of the 'road-course ringer'
It's not often that a wide-eyed rookie starting 30th in a second-tier NASCAR Xfinity race will draw so much as a passing comment beyond hardened followers of the series looking to uncover future Cup Series stars. It's certainly uncommon for such a description to fit a Porsche factory driver and two-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner.
But on the Daytona road course this Saturday, 2017 World Endurance Champion Earl Bamber will trade the 911 RSR he normally races in the IMSA Sportscar Championship's GTLM class for the #21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro and become the latest in a long line of drivers to be assigned the label of a NASCAR 'road-course ringer'.
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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.
In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.
After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.
A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.
He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.
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