IN LAST LAP THRUXTON THRILLER
Ginetta Junior Championship rookie George Gamble secured a fantastically hard fought maiden car racing victory at the ultra-fast Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire, Saturday, 30th April, bringing an end to runaway points leader Seb Morris’ early season domination.
As in the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup sister championship, Saturday’s Ginetta Junior action marked the end of a winning streak – in this case that of Morris who won each race at Brands Hatch and Donington Park during the previous two events.
Gamble’s win was by the slimmest of margins, a true photo-finish with only 0.036 seconds splitting the TJ Motorsport driver and Hillspeed’s championship leader.
With nothing between the two youngsters throughout the 12 lap encounter, Gamble capitalised on a couple of rare mistakes for Morris and the result places him as possibly the youngest ever winner of a circuit-based car race in the UK – aged little over 14 years and nine months.
“I would have been happy with second or third to be honest but we’d said before the race, if there’s an opportunity then go for it”, said Gamble, “When Seb (Morris) overtook me on the first lap I thought I’d sit there and go with him and we’d be able to pull away from the pack behind. I got faster as the race went on where Seb looked like he was struggling more.
“At the chicane he kept running wide and out of the second to last corner on the last lap, that gave me a good run up the hill and then I pulled out of the slipstream to the outside and was able to go past – it was fantastic. I didn’t think I’d pulled it off, it was right down to the line.”
Privateer runner Max Coates rounded out the podium with a tremendous drive to take his first main season rostrum, having qualified a highly impressive fourth. During the closing stages he reeled-in the two leaders as they squabbled for the win and finished just a second adrift at the flag.
Nothing to choose between Gamble and Morris...Gamble led the way during pre-event testing on Friday, ahead of Morris, and while the series leader managed to pip his rival by a mere 0.008 seconds in this morning’s additional practice session, in qualifying Gamble was back on top.
Taking his first pole position with a fabulous lap of 1m30.818 seconds (93.39mph), the Nottingham racer was 0.3 seconds faster than Morris who was, in turn, 0.1 seconds quicker than his team-mate Struan Moore – the Jersey rookie delivering by far a career best effort with a sensational push.
Coates took fourth on the grid with Brad Bailey and Myles Collins locking out row three for TJ and Westbourne Motorsport respectively. In short, the Thruxton qualifying session delivered a series of season-best performances.
Gamble held the lead at the beginning of round five from Morris and although Moore managed to get away cleanly, he was pushed down the order at the complex to the fringe of the top 10 – a great shame for the young rookie.
As the drivers behind jostled for position exiting the Campbell, Cobb and Segrave sequence of turns, Morris towed-up to the rear of Gamble’s car and into the daunting, flat-out Church Corner the series pace-setter produced an absolutely incredible move on the inside to grab the lead.
The Safety Car had to be deployed in time for the start of lap two due to an excursion off the track for Ginetta Junior Ireland Champion Niall Murray so the order at that point read: Morris, Gamble, Collins – after a superb first lap from sixth on the grid – Coates, Bailey, Sennan Fielding, Michael Day – up from 15th on the grid with a stunning drive – and William Foster.
Racing resumed on lap five and the top two pulled a fair gap ahead of the chasing pack which was initially headed by Collins. On lap six, Coates moved ahead with a fantastic pass at Church but into the chicane there was drama ahead as leader Morris ran wide over the high kerbs to give Gamble a chance to really latch-on to his bootlid.
Coming under more and more pressure as the race wore on, and his tyres lost grip, Morris battled to stay ahead but Gamble looked in prime position to try and pounce at any point. Unable to shake off his pursuer, into the chicane on lap nine Morris again got out of shape over the kerbs which allowed Gamble to nose ahead into the 10th tour. The Welsh youngster hit back though at Noble.
Into the 12th and final lap, Morris had a lead of just 0.183 seconds with Coates in third place closing on the two leaders all of the time. Gamble got a good run out of Goodwood and after using the slipstream well up Woodham Hill, he pulled out to pass Morris around the outside into the chicane – a bold move which he managed to pull off brilliantly to grab the lead.
Running side-by-side to the chequered flag, Gamble edged the victory by just 0.036 seconds with Coates just over a second further back in third. Bailey took fourth, easily his best result of the year, with Fielding fifth – again a season’s best – and Charlie Robertson sixth from 10th on the grid.
Collins, meanwhile, did finish seventh but a transponder issue meant he didn’t show on the timing screens. He was almost three seconds ahead of Moore who managed to stay ahead of Jake Giddings and Foster.
Points leader Morris said: “It was a really good race, it was very close but I kept making mistakes at the last chicane which I need to make sure I don’t do tomorrow! I was taking too much of the second kerb there and that pushed me out on the exit – I was lucky not to go into the barriers really.
“Fair dos though to George (Gamble), I braked as late as I could on the last lap as I couldn’t go any faster around there but he just managed to beat me on the line. The second half of the race was really hard, the tyres went away quickly. Tomorrow we just need to get more points in the bag, if we can go for the win then that’ll be a bonus.”
Third placed Coates added: “Fantastic race – my first podium of the year and first in the Ginetta Junior Championship, it’s really prestigious for me, especially as a privateer. It’s such a competitive championship and it’s really tough to be on the podium so I’m very happy.
“I kept my head out there, I was pushing hard but at the same time I didn’t want to make a mistake at all. Thanks to everyone who has helped to put me in this position, I want to say a really big thank you to all of my sponsors for their fantastic support.”
Round six of the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship will take place at 13.30, Sunday, 1st May, and will be screened live across the UK on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4, on the ITV4 HD channel and online at itv.com/touringcars
Provisional 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after Rd5):1st Seb Morris, 175pts; 2nd George Gamble, 106pts; 3rd William Foster, 103pts; 4th Max Coates, 94pts; 5th Tom Howard, 87pts; 6th Charlie Robertson, 78pts
