King leads from the front to land British Formula 3 championship

King arrived at the famous German circuit just three points ahead of nearest title rival, William Buller, with three races of the 2013 season remaining.

The 19-year-old began his weekend in style, taking pole position for races one and three having topped the timesheets in Friday’s two practice sessions as he set about tying up the title.

Lining up alongside season-long sparring partner Buller, King looked to have quite the race on his hands on Saturday morning. That was until Buller’s Fortec car backfired on the grid, forcing the Northern Irishman back to the pits.

With race one finally underway, King was largely unchallenged out in front, leading another title contender, Antonio Giovinazzi, by more than a second after the first lap and eventually crossing the line a full 10.3 seconds clear of the Italian, who struggled with over-steer as the race progressed.

En route to victory, the Stoneleigh-based driver clocked the fastest lap to score an extra point and extend his lead over Buller to 28 with two races of the weekend and the championship remaining.

Starting from eighth on the grid for the reversed grid race, King was cautious, while Buller, who began the race from 13th, sliced his way through the order to pass the Carlin racer as he made his way up to fourth.

As Buller continued to charge, King profited from incidents for Sean Gelael and Jann Mardenborough to move up to sixth when disaster struck for his main rival.

As he sought to reel in third-placed Tatiana Calderon, Buller overcooked it, crashing out at the final corner of lap 13 to hand the crown to King, who crossed the line in fifth place to take his first major European single-seater title.

The newly-crowned champion showed his class in the final race of the weekend, taking another accomplished lights-to-flag victory, 1.398 seconds ahead of a relentless Buller.

Following a perfect final race, an elated King said: “My race couldn’t have been much better. It was the best I’ve driven all year and a brilliant race.”