King adds to his clutch of top tens

Having already taken advantage of Formula Renault UK’s long mid-summer break to try his hand at Formula Two, King’s latest adventure saw him travel to Germany to pitch himself against many of the finest junior single-seater competitors in Europe.

Treating the weekend as a learning experience, King swiftly demonstrated what a fast learner he is by lapping a superb fourth-quickest out of the 20 contenders in the opening practice session.

The 17-year-old confessed to “not getting it quite right” in qualifying but he acknowledged that ninth and seventh on the grid for his two races were by no means “horrendous”.

However, a bad start, which he put down to unfamiliarity with the clutch system, dropped him down to 15th before he clawed his way back through the field.

“Our speed was strong and I managed to pass quite a few people and recover to eighth,” said King.

“I was pleased with that considering it’s quite hard to overtake round there when the gaps in lap times are so close - that made it satisfying to come through as far as we did.”

A similarly slow start in the second race, which saw King successfully navigate around a crash, left the Stoneleigh driver with it all to do, but he again proved up to the task, coming home in sixth.

“Overall, I was happy with how the weekend went - our speed was really good and we learned a lot. At the end of the day, it was mission accomplished,” he said.