British GT: Last Minute Driver Gamble Grabs Pole for Century

In his first weekend for the Century Motorsport team, Tom Gamble recorded the perfect start, taking pole for the opening British GT Championship race tomorrow. The 17-year-old, who is partnering Jack Mitchell in the #9 BMW M6, set the benchmark with a 1min 49.129 around Snetterton.

GT4 will see another Silver Cup pairing leading the field as Multimatic Motorsport made it three from three in the first qualifying session. Scott Maxwell continued his perfect form in the AM session and will lead away for the first of two 1 hour races tomorrow.

The grid for race two was be determined by the PRO drivers, where Nicki Thiim took TF Sport’s first GT3 pole of the campaign with a best of 1min 47.181. In GT4, the Ford’s stranglehold on the top spot was broken by Team Parker Racing’s Scott Malvern. The 31-year-old will lead in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 for the second event.

GT3 Am

As the teams blasted out for qualifying, it was the Lamborghini’s first on track for the GT3 Am’s, with Sam De Haan first up to speed. The surprise of the session proved to be Tom Gamble. Brought in as a last minute replacement for Adrian Willmott, the Silver Cup driver was expected to perform well against a group of Am competitors, but pole on his maiden outing will do little to drop his stock as he looks for a perminent drive elsewhere.

De Haan would hold on to second and gives the Barwell Motorsport team the best chance of success, as Pro/Am teams are expected to close the gap during the race. Graham Davidson was the quickest Aston Martin in third leading the TF Sport entry, being joined by Adam Balon’s #72 Lamborghini on the second row. Team Parker Racing’s #7 was fifth ahead of Oliver Wilkinson in #96 Optimum Motorsport Aston. This would determine the grid for the first race.

GT3 Pro

The times for the second race tomorrow will be set in the PRO qualifying and as expected, there was almost nothing between the leaders. Nicki Thiim continued his performance from first practice, where he’d been fastest, to set the early record. It proved to be a benchmark no other driver could beat despite Phil Keen getting ever closer, missing out by 0.055 seconds.

This meant that Barwell will start second for both races, though the #72 will be ahead of the #69 as Jonny Cocker took the Lamborghini to third, under a tenth behind his teammate. There proved to be a relatively large gap back to Seb Morris of 0.332 seconds in the JRM Racing Bentley Continental. Keen and Adam Christodoulou were the only drivers to continue until the flag, though both failed to extract more out of the tyres, ensuring the Team ABBA Mercedes will qualify ahead of Rob Bell’s McLaren in fifth.

GT4 Am

Competitive laps would not appear until the final four minutes of qualifying, ensuring a last minute dash to the line was on the cards for the Am and Silver drivers. Rather like Gamble in GT3, the Silver Cup drivers soon rose to the top of the field as Scott Maxwell led the way in the #15 Multimatic Ford Mustang, continuing their qualifying form from Oulton Park. A lap in the final minute pushed Josh Price in the bright yellow Aston Martin onto the front row, only to be beaten seconds after by Richard Williams’ #29 Stellar Performance Audi R8 LMS, a shock for the AM.

As a result, Price would be on the second row with Callum Pointon’s McLaren, making it four manufacturers in the top four, all split by under 0.2 seconds. In fact, the top thirteen had no more than a second between them as Josh Smith’s Tolman Motorsport McLaren completed the top five.

GT4 Pro

All eyes were on Ford to repeat their AM performance, though Seb Priaulx’s run could not be more opposed to his teammates. Qualifying only tenth. Instead, it was Scott Malvern’s Mercedes who looked unstoppable. Despite having one of the oldest pairing’s on the grid, the #66 Team Parker Racing will lead the way in the second race with a benchmark of 1min 56.589. He’ll be joined on the front row by the highest placed Silver in the #97 TF Sport of Tom Canning, making it a double second for the team in GT4, just like Barwell in GT3.

Dean MacDonald had looked on course for pole early in the session, but failed to repeat his initial run lining up third for HHC Motorsport. It will be a familar car alongside though, with Jordan Collard’s Tolman McLaren 570S in fourth. Rounding out the top five was Dino Zamperelli in the GT Marques. As the only Porsche left in the series, the #88 will be under pressure to put in a result, especially after they topped first practice earlier in the day.

The competitiveness of qualifying was emphasised by the fact 0.011 seconds seperated four cars, from as many manufacturers, from seventh to tenth.

On Sunday; Race One will start 11:10 local time, with Race Two at 15:25.