Tom Gamble announced himself on the single-seaters circuit with a stunning Saturday in the British F3 championship at Rockingham, with a last-ditch pole position followed by a faultless drive to victory later in the afternoon.
Gamble was one of the last across the line qualifying as others including series leader Nicolai Kjaergaard toiled in the rain in Northamptonshire.
The victory takes Gamble to the top of the standings after four races, at only his second single-seaters meeting.
Having not taken pole last year despite winning the British Ginetta Junior series last year, Gamble was relieved to have broken his qualifying duck early in the F3 season.
“The car felt mega in qualifying, Fortec have given me a really good car.
“I’m really happy to have got pole position in British F3 because I didn’t get one in the Ginettas (Juniors) last year which was pretty annoying.
The 16-year-old from Nottinghamshire isn’t putting any pressure on himself for the rest of the season but is still confident of success.
“I’m just going to do the best I can this year and as far as the future goes, we’ll go from there. Ideally I’d like to be right up there and I think we can be this year.
Gamble was delighted to go on to win the race in the afternoon, gapping Linus Lundqvist early in the race after an early Safety Car.
“To go on and win the race is mega. I’m happy I was able to pull away from him (Lundqvist) It’s a great way to start the weekend. In the race it was a damp track and had stopped raining so it was just greasy.
“It was great to get a gap on him because we’ve seen that he’s been quick all season. It’s just a shame we haven’t yet seen anyone’s dry pace.
The grid for tomorrow’s racing is reversed meaning that Gamble, except for a handful of retirees, will be starting well down the order.
“With the reverse grid tomorrow, I would like to think I could get some overtaking done but it’s difficult to say where we’ll end up.
It will be a case of damage limitation, taking as many places as possible and trying to get as close to the front as I can.”
Image Credit: Jakob Ebrey