Porsche GB Junior Driver Harry King secured a brace of podium finishes as the defence of his Porsche Carrera Cup GB title kicked off in sweltering conditions at Snetterton.
The BRDC Superstar driver headed for Norfolk on the back of a busy start to his racing season, having already taken a double win in the Carrera Cup Benelux and having made his Porsche Supercup debut on the streets of Monaco.
Having been unable to show his true pace in Friday practice due to red flags, Harry headed into qualifying confident about fighting for pole to maintain his stunning record since moving into the Carrera Cup last year.
Unfortunately, a rare mechanical issue on the car just as he was winding up for the quick laps at the end of the session would leave Harry out of position in sixth spot, and with work to do in Sunday’s two races.
A storming start saw Harry quickly move his way up into fourth place as he cleared Lewis Plato and Will Martin on the opening lap of race one, and then set about trying to get ahead of Kiern Jewiss into the podium positions.
Making his move to take the place on lap five, Harry dived up the inside at Agostini to get ahead of Jewiss but with the leading pair having already had the chance to break away.
Running at a similar pace to his rivals in sweltering conditions, Harry would end the race with third place and another podium to add to his resume, before a post-race penalty for Lorcan Hanafin promoted him up into P2.
Fifth on the grid for the second race of the weekend thanks to the reverse grid, Harry produced his traditional storming opening lap to rocket up into second place and then got ahead of Plato on lap two to hit the front.
From that point on, Harry was able to control proceedings from the head of the field and looked set for his first victory of the campaign before being handed a five second penalty for exceeding track limits.
It meant that, although he took the race win on the road, the additional time dropped him down to third place, meaning he ends the weekend sitting five points off the championship lead in third place.
“It’s been a bit of a frustrating way to start the defence of my title, but we can’t dwell on what has happened and just need to put it behind us,” he said. “Qualifying was unfortunate as we had an issue with the gearbox and that put me on the back foot going into race one because we were out of position on the grid.
“The team did a great job, as always, to get the car ready and we had a solid run through to the podium, and then in race two I think we showed that we have the pace by coming through from fifth to win on the road. It’s a shame to have lost the victory but the rules are the rules, and it only makes me more determined to go to Brands Hatch in a few weeks and get back onto the top of the podium.
“It will be an interesting weekend there given how short the circuit is as it will be tremendously close, but we know we have the speed to run at the front and I can go there feeling confident.”
Source. Harry King
Discussion
No comments yet.