Racing siblings George and Tom Gamble are celebrating after a fantastically successful week – George, the reigning Ginetta GT5 Challenge Champion, has been named a ‘Rising Star’ by the British Racing Drivers’ Club while younger brother Tom won his first ever European kart race.
For 18-year-old George, the prestigious accolade from the Silverstone-based BRDC is the icing on the cake after a tremendously successful return to action in 2014 where he won seven races and claimed 11 other podium results on his way to a dominant title victory in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge.
Despite spending much of the previous 18 months on the racing sidelines, the hugely talented driver displayed his pace and class immediately with top team Total Control Racing and emerged as a richly deserving champion – the second car racing title of his career.
Now, buoyed by the invitation to be part of the highly regarded ‘Rising Star’ programme, George is eyeing graduation into the Michelin Ginetta GT4 SuperCup this year, a key support category to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
“I’ve got to say a huge thank you to everyone at the BRDC, being a Rising Star is a massive accolade and a real boost to our negotiations for this year”, said an elated George, “Last season was fantastic, it couldn’t have gone much better to be honest, but to know the BRDC has kept an eye on my racing and has invited me onto the Rising Star programme – well, that’s the icing on the cake!”
Gamble Jnr stars with victory on European karting debutAiming to follow in his brother’s wheeltracks, 13-year-old Tom Gamble is certainly going the right way about it after winning the Rotax Junior Max Winter Cup at Campillos, near Malaga in Spain, a week ago – his first ever appearance in European level competition.
Rapidly rising through the ranks and gaining a stellar reputation, the Epperstone schoolboy starred on his maiden appearance in the Winter Cup and emerged victorious from an entry of no fewer than 50 drivers from across the globe.
Progressing well through the heats, Tom worked his way through to second in the Pre-Final before taking a famous rookie success in the Final after a terrific drive for the Dan Holland Racing team. He will now go on to contest his first full season of karting in Europe after finishing third in the Super 1 Rotax Junior Max Championship in the UK last year.
“Campillos was fantastic, a really great weekend – I obviously wanted to win but I didn’t really expect to on my first weekend racing in Europe”, said Tom, “I’ve got to say a big thank you to the team, they did an amazing job and the kart was great to drive. It’s a brilliant way to start 2015 and hopefully we can fight for more wins during the season.”
Tom began karting at the age of eight and after learning his craft, he rapidly climbed the ladder from Comer Cadet into Rotax Mini Max. Marking himself out as one to watch he became the youngest driver to ever take a podium finish in Mini Max, aged just 11-years-old, and in 2013 he also won the prestigious Kartmasters GP.
