Penalties cost Epperstone’s George Gamble places at Thruxton in rounds five and six of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Championship
By Paul Horton
Epperstone’s George Gamble’s weekend at Thruxton for rounds five and six of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Championship saw him gain more points.
The 28-year-old Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Champion racer from last season had his fair share of bad luck at the Hampshire circuit in the pro category.
His weekend in the 510 hp ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup race car with the Rosland Gold Racing by Century Motorsport team got off to a great start that saw him take a combined fourth fastest on Friday’s two practice sessions with team-mate Andrew Rackstraw a place above him. Gamble took the two fastest laps in session two.
Saturday’s qualifying session was just as good for Gamble. He was topping speeds of around 141mph around parts of the 2.356-mile tarmac and was only 0.328 seconds off pole position, taken by the second Rosland Gold Racing car of Rackstraw.
It wasn’t without drama, Gamble finished qualifying fourth after 12 laps but was given a one-lap time disallowed for exceeding track limits.
It should have been a Century Motorsport front row lockout, but Gamble had to settle for the second row in the first of two races on Sunday, with Rackstraw leading the pack off the line.
As the lights went out for race one, it was a no-go situation for the whole race for Gamble, despite a good getaway from the line, he found it difficult to get past the cars in front.
Thruxton is a fast but difficult circuit to overtake and has only the odd few vantage spots to make a move.
He was trying his utmost to get in front of James Wallis with no avail and after 22 laps, he seemingly settled for a fourth-place finish. However, Gamble was handed two-time penalties for exceeding track limits, with a total of 15 seconds putting him back into ninth spot.
A reverse format grid for the second race saw Gamble on row five. As the lights went out there was contact straight away between Seb Hopkins and Wallis and the safety car deployed, scooping all 13 remaining cars together.
By lap five the safety cars lights were out. A good start for Gamble saw him remain in P7. On lap seven, Gamble gave way to Max Coates at the chicane but he took a trip over the gravel and Gamble was up to sixth.
Rackstraw was now in front of Gamble, but he wasn’t letting go. On lap nine, a three-way battle between Gamble, Rackstraw and Wallis commenced.
Three laps later Gamble was 0.881 seconds off Rackstraw’s rear bumper, a driving standards flag was shown to Gamble and to other drivers as well.
On lap 13, Gamble took Rackstraw in a great move to move into fifth, where he remained at the flag. However, due to the lap seven chicane incident involving Coates, Gamble received a three-position penalty for getting an unfair advantage.
Gamble leaves Thruxton in sixth place in the driver’s championship on 26 points.
The Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Championship moves to Croft for rounds seven and eight on August 2-3.
