Classy King leaves F1 star in his wake

Having emerged with just one victory at the Madras Motor Race Track the previous week despite proving to be the quickest competitor in the field, King returned to Chennai knowing any vital tenths of a second his team had eked out of the Van Diemen-designed, Ford Duratec-powered single-seater would be mirrored by his rivals.

“Because it’s a one-make series and everyone is under the same awning, it’s hard to make a change and then keep it to yourself,” said the 16-year-old.

As anticipated, King was given a run for his money in qualifying, but he still put his Team Sidvin machine on pole for the first two races.

And, on both occasions, he seamlessly drove off into the distance to notch up a brace of triumphs.

“I made a cautious start in race one as I was concentrating more on holding position,” said King. “I was challenged through the first few corners, but after that I pushed hard and was able to build a bit of a gap so that I didn’t really need to defend.

“The second race was even better. I got a good start and didn’t need to defend, and then I just got it nailed and pushed really hard for the first three laps.”

In doing so, King broke the lap record which had been set a couple of weeks previously by Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan.

The two victories also meant he entered the final race of the weekend from fourth position on a reversed grid bidding for a hat-trick. However, a misunderstanding with a rival ended the Princethorpe College student’s chances.

But as he turned his focus to the Formula Renault UK campaign, the Hugo Boss brand ambassador remained upbeat. “I’m very pleased with the way the two weekends have gone,” he said. “There was lot of racing, a lot of PR and a lot of practice doing interviews and I’m happy with the results.”