Gamble Hoping to Assist Stevenson in GTD Title Fight

Photo: Brian Cleary/IMSA

Tom Gamble said he’s hoping to help assist Heart of Racing Team co-driver Casper Stevenson to the GTD title while entering the final stretch of races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Gamble, who missed two GTD races due to his FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar commitments with the team’s Aston Martin Valkyrie program, is off-sequence on points to his countryman Stevenson, who sits third in the championship race with three races to go.

While 117 points back on leaders Philip Ellis and Russell Ward of Winward Racing, the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Stevenson still holds an outside chance of taking the season-long crown, with this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway se to be a pivotal race.

Stevenson, Gamble and Zach Robichon, meanwhile, are tied for the lead of the Michelin Endurance Cup GTD standings ahead of next month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans in October.

“It’s been a really fun year so far,” Gamble told Sportscar365. “If we can add a few wins before the end of the year [that would be ideal].

“Casper is looking very good in the overall championship. He’s P3. My goal is to help him try and win that this year.

“If we can take the endurance championship, that would be really cool as well. But a lot can happen in IMSA.

“We just have to keep our nose clean and keep doing the job we’ve been doing all year, just having clean races and trying to be there at the finish is the main thing.”

Gamble and Stevenson are coming off a ninth place class result at Road America after contact with the No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang of Jenson Altzman, although Stevenson still gained slight ground on the championship due to an issue for the Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

For Gamble, in his first full-time WeatherTech Championship campaign, it’s been an eye-opening experience for the 23-year-old.

“It’s been amazing, my first full season in IMSA,” he said. “I did the endurance series in 2022 and did just Daytona last year.

“The team have given me an incredible opportunity this year to do both of the championships, two of the standout championships in the world.

“To be representing Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing in both of them has been a huge privilege. I’ve been really enjoying it.

“Obviously to win, first time out at Watkins [Glen], was pretty special. We’ve had podiums at Daytona and Sebring, so the endurance championship is going very well.

“Now the plan is to get some podiums in the sprint races as well.”

Dual Series Program Keeping Gamble “Very Busy”

While one of several drivers undertaking dual WeatherTech Championship/WEC programs, Gamble is uniquely doing it in two distinctly different types of Aston Martin machinery.

“It’s been very fun,” he said. “Ian [James, team principal] and the Heart of Racing have been keeping me very busy, obviously, with WEC and IMSA.

“It’s fun jumping between the two. A couple of years ago in 2021, I did GTE in WEC and LMP2 in ELMS, so I’ve had similar seasons before where I was jumping between the prototypes and the GTs.

“Definitely, when you get back in the car, it takes a couple of laps to get yourself back into the sort-of GT way of using the ABS in the best way and the GT cars feeling a lot softer compared to what you’re used to in the Hypercar.

“So reacting quite. a lot differently, especially in the high-speed corners as well.

“It’s been really fun and we’ve had some good results in GT. The Valkyrie is getting quicker in every race. It’s been a fun year so far.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John