Dramatic finish sees Tom Gamble from Epperston win class victory in Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen in New York

By Paul Horton

Epperstone’s Tom Gamble claimed a dramatic last-gasp victory in last weekend’s Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen in New York.

The last couple of weeks have been busy for the Aston Martin factory team endurance driver and The Heart of Racing Team.

Just over a week ago, the 23-year-old competed in the Le Mans 24 hours race with the team in the manufacturer’s works backed #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar with teammates Harry Tincknell and Ross Gunn.

After a week of team duties in Le Mans town in France and a busy schedule on track of practice and qualifying sessions, the team were top in the Hyperpole league and started from 20th spot on the grid.

The Aston Martin THOR Team spent the next 24 hours attempting to make up for a tyre puncture that put the Valkyrie Hypercar a lap down within the first hour of the demanding race. Ultimately, Gamble took the flag after the trio completed 381 laps to cross the finish line in 14th spot.

Last weekend, Gamble was straight on it again, a flight from France to New York saw early practice sessions on Thursday and qualifying onwards into the race weekend for round six of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, 6 hours of Watkins Glen, USA.

With the THOR team and the weekend’s teammates of Casper Stevenson and Zacharie Robichon, he took to the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo endurance race car, a complete change to the week before’s Aston Martin Hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

This didn’t stop Gamble who was on it with some phenomenal laps during practice and qualifying on the USA’s 3.4-mile circuit.

It saw the team pay dividend towards the end of the race to take a GTD Class win and bring the Vantage home in 26th place overall.

The race wasn’t without a twist in the tale for the team, they battled for an outright class win from the start but had come to realise that a second place was on the cards.

Then the #12 Lexus leading after six hours ran out of fuel, letting Gamble through into the lead on the last lap to take the flag.

Gamble’s “emotions were all over the place”, sharing his first race win in the series with teammate Stevenson, while Robichon took his eighth.

Gamble leaves Watkins Glen seventh in the IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Championship and second in the IMSA Michelin Endurance GTD Driver Championship.