George Gamble enjoyed a Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup debut to remember after securing a pair of victories during the opening triple-header of the 2017 season at Brands Hatch.
In his distinctive Amigos-liveried Ginetta G55, Gamble tasted the winners champagne in races one and three, with his victories sandwiching a maiden win for Jack Mitchell.
Gamble kicked off the weekend by securing the opening pole position on offer in qualifying, but a close session saw Carl Boardley, Mitchell and Ben Green within a quarter of a second.
The opening race saw Gamble in dominant form as he led from lights-to-flag for an unchallenged 2.8s victory, though it was a much closer affair behind.
Green shot from fourth to second off the line and then produced a defensive masterclass to keep Boardley at bay, whilst the latter held off Mitchell to complete the podium.
Callum Pointon rounded out the top five, while another close-fought battle saw Seb Perez emerge in sixth on his series debut ahead of Tom Hibbert and Declan Jones.
There was early drama in the second race for Green, who had to be pushed off the front row of the grid prior to the race start, which opened the door for Mitchell to sweep into second.
Gamble led the early stages, but pressure from Mitchell led to a spin for the race leader at Graham Hill Bend, dropping him back to an eventual tenth place finish.
From there, Mitchell pulled clear to take the win by 2.5 seconds, with Pointon and Boardley running in formation behind to complete the podium in a race ended prematurely by the red flag.
That came after Jones suffered a late spin at Clearways that left him stranded on circuit, the Century Motorsport man having run fourth for a while before being passed by Hibbert.
As Hibbert took fourth, Colin White produced a stunning drive to finish fifth overall on his way to a second consecutive AM class victory, with Reece Somerfield in sixth.
That result would earn Somerfield the reversed grid pole position for the final race and a superb performance would see the privateer entrant lead for the opening thirteen laps.
His challenge would then derail though as he slipped down the order, with Mitchell assuming the advantage ahead of Boardley, though his race was to come to a dramatic end.
Contact with Pointon heading onto the pit straight would pitch Boardley into the armco, and as he bounced back across circuit, he collected the innocent Green and sent him into the tyres.
Both drivers emerged unscathed, though the same couldn’t be said for their G55’s. Following a lengthy safety car spell though, the action was able to resume with seven laps to go.
That was just enough time for Gamble to make his way to the front of the field, doing so with a decisive dive down the inside into Paddock Hill that almost ended in disaster for his adversary.
Mitchell caught the kerb on the inside as he tried to switchback, sending him into a massive fishtail, but he was able to gather it up without making contact with Gamble, but subsequently dropped to seventh.
That opened the door for Pointon to take second ahead of Mitchell’s Rob Boston Racing team-mate Charlie Ladell, who secured a debut series podium to add to two other top ten finishes.
Jones, Perez and Somerfield would eventually round out the top six ahead of Mitchell, while behind, Jac Constable took the AM class win in seventh overall to secure the early class points lead.
His efforts were aided by White being absent for the final race as he competed in the 24 Hours of Silverstone, with Constable completing a hat-trick of class podiums.
Constable’s Xentek Motorsport team-mate and fellow series debutant Jack Minshaw, David Brooks and Team HARD’s Dan Kirby would also take to the class podium over the weekend.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2017/171303g50.pdf
