New Zealand endured a tough weekend as the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport made its first appearance at the Portimao circuit in the Algarve, as New Zealand failed to finish either Portuguese race.

The teenager made a strong start to the Sprint Race from sixth on the grid, but his race was over almost as quickly as it began after he tangled with the Team Lebanon car of Daniel Morad on the opening lap and was forced into retirement.

Bamber was on the pace from the start of the Feature Race and had carried himself into contention for a place on the podium after the first round of pitstops, but then locked-up under braking and slammed into the rear of the South African entry of Adrian Zaugg – putting both out of the race on the spot.

"We had a good start in the Sprint Race but had an unfortunate tangle with Lebanon,” Bamber said. "A long brake pedal combined with running off-line in the attempt to get past South Africa caused me to lock the rear brakes.

"The car had good pace, and the guys in the pit did a great job to turn the car around so quickly in the first stop."

Team manager John Sears admitted he was disappointed with the results, but could still take positives from the pace shown by the car.

"The promising thing is we had strong pace today,” he said. “It's just unfortunate that a couple mistakes meant we weren't able to deliver the result."