Disaster in Abu Dhabi as system fault stops Epperstone's Tom Gamble in the Asian Le Mans Series
It was a disappointing weekend for Tom Gamble in the four hours of Abu Dhabi across rounds three and four of the Asian Le Mans Series, reports Paul Horton.
It had been less than a week since Epperstone’s Gamble had been on track in Dubai for the opening two rounds of the endurance racing series where he and the D’station Racing Team finished in 17th and ninth place respectively.
But disappointment struck in Abu Dhabi for #77 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 drivers as the car gave up the ghost and suddenly stopped on track, which caused the team to retire from the race.
“It was such a shame that we didn’t get the results we deserved, but I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Gamble.
“A huge thank you to the D’station team and TF Sport for doing a faultless job the last two weeks.”
The 20-year-old was still fastest on track in the stints beforehand with his regular ALMS team-mates — Japan’s bronze driver Satoshi Hoshino and D’station Racing’s managing director gold driver Tomonobu Fujii.
Gamble knew the Yas Marina Circuit would be demanding for the team at high speed and technical complex corners.
With the timetable virtually the same as the previous weekend, the team arrived early at the circuit last Tuesday for free practise sessions completing 31 laps of the 3.261-mile tarmac, finishing in 11th and 15th place.
Gamble was let loose by the team to do the business in the two five-lap qualifying sessions to determine the starting places for the two races.
Gamble took fifth in Q1 and finished seventh in the second qualifying round, topping speeds of over 263kph.
Saturdays race saw the Aston Martin line up on the grid with gold driver Fujii.
As the lights went out, he went down to seventh place to avoid an accident, but showed a good run and recovered to second place.
On lap 47, Gamble jumped into the car in the pits knowing it was all down to him while running in fifth in the final stage.
With four minutes remaining, he finished in eighth place after a penalty for violating the track limit (running off the track).
A similar strategy followed for Sunday’s final race of the series, taking over in 18th.
With one hour and 39 minutes of racing remaining, and having moved up one spot, disaster struck as the car suddenly stopped.
A full course yellow was put in place as the grief-stricken Gamble sat in the cockpit stranded.
