King Hails ‘Massive Improvement’ at Thruxton
Jordan King described Thruxton as a ‘big step forward’ in the Formula Renault UK championship after vying for pole position and battling for podium places in both races.
The Warwickshire-based driver took momentum from his strong outing at Donington Park last time out to set the second fastest time in both of Friday’s free practise sessions. King managed to qualify an impressive second for race one and fifth for race two, and the data after showed he could have had pole.
“On my last lap in session one, I was quickest through the first sector and it was all looking good,” the 17-year-old recalled. “I only had the final chicane to go and I would have been on pole, but Olly Rowland had spun and stopped at the exit of it, and with the yellow flags out, I had to lift off and go round him, which cost me three tenths of a second.”
Race one would be eventful for King. Having started on the front row and made an initial good get away King would slip to third, and while battling for second with Ellinas he took to the grass.
“I made a good start and got around the outside of the pole-sitter, Alex Lynn, but then I had a problem with the gearbox shifting up from fourth to fifth, which cost me a bit of time,” related the Stoneleigh-based speed demon. “I lost half-a-car’s length, which allowed Lynn to edge back alongside me and left me on the outside for the first chicane, and with Tio Ellinas following Alex line-astern right behind; I had nowhere to tuck into and slipped to third.
“I then got a really good run on Ellinas going down the back straight and pulled alongside, but he just sideswiped me onto the grass. That spun me round, and I came back onto the track facing the wrong way. It’s pretty scary having cars coming directly towards you at more than 150mph and I was just praying for no-one to hit me, and fortunately nobody did.”
Ellinas was fined for the incident and additionally punished with points on his license; this was no consolation for King.
Starting from P5 in race two, King aimed to put his race one disappointment behind him. It was not to be. A ‘school boy error’ by king meant a possible second place finish turned into a lowly tenth, despite setting the third fastest time.
“I moved up to third straightaway, which was good,” he recollected, “and shortly afterwards I got onto the back of Rowland in second and managed to pass him into the chicane – I went up the inside and ran him out wide on the exit – but then I just made a real schoolboy, amateur mistake and spun, which dropped me right down the order. Looking at the lap times afterwards, we were definitely quick enough to have held onto second place, and we may even have been able to challenge for the win…
“It was another frustrating weekend in terms of results, but we had the pace to be on pole and to fight for the podium, which was a massive improvement over the previous couple of meetings,” he concluded.
“It was a shame that we were unlucky in the first race and that I made the mistake in the second, but there were lots of positives, too. Everything came together at Thruxton – we all seemed to work in a much more structured manner inside the team, and we made progress all the way through.
“We definitely took a big step forward.”
Mike Trusler
