George Gamble added a second win to his Sunday at Brands Hatch, meaning he will take a substantial championship lead into the final weekend of the season.
Gamble lined his TCR G40 up on pole position thanks to his win earlier in the day and led away as Dennis Strandberg, his closest rival in the championship, slotted into second. However, behind Nick Firth and Chris Webster came together, G20 man David Pattinson collected in the accident that brought the safety car out while the wreckage was cleared.
Strandberg took the lead on the restart before Gamble retook the position to lead across the line. The Swede would move back ahead on the following lap, holding Gamble behind for three laps until a spin dropped him from the lead down to fifth, Gamble retaking the lead from Callum Pointon with Ollie Chadwick in third. He had made his way through the first corner accident that unfolded around him, picking up five places to run eighth under the safety car.
His progress continued when the green flag came back out, moving up to fifth on the first full lap back to racing. On lap six fifth became fourth at the expense of Gary Simms, putting Chadwick in position to inherit third after Strandberg’s off track moment. The top three moved clear in the final laps, starting the final lap covered by less than a second after Chadwick ran the fastest lap of the race to put him in position to mount a late challenge for the lead.
He would fall short of the top spot, but did pass Pointon through the early part of the lap. The time lost in the brief wheel-to-wheel battle let Gamble to escape into a clear lead which, though he was faster through the rest of the lap, Chadwick was unable to endanger.
Strandberg passed Simms for fourth, Frederick Mortensen completing the top half dozen.
Stuart Pearson completed a sweep of the G20 class, leading home Brian Murphy and Alex Preston by four seconds.
With just the three races at Donington Park left on the schedule Gamble has a 57 point lead over Strandberg. Chadwick lies another 14 points behind with a maximum of 108 points on offer across the final weekend (September 13-14).
