King looks anything but a rookie on his F3 debut

In a high-calibre, 30-strong field, King went into qualifying targeting the top ten and duly lined up eighth for races one and two and sixth for race three in his Volkswagen-powered Dallara single-seater.

However, a poor start immediately put King on the back foot.

“I made some ground back going through the first few corners despite picking up a bent front wing,” said King.

“I had recovered as far as seventh when I came up behind Félix Serrallés and we had a really fun, wheel-to-wheel battle over the final ten laps - we were swapping places every few corners.”

Justifiably pleased with his seventh place, King awoke the following day to find that the heavens had opened, unleashing a torrent of rain over the Lombard circuit.

Both Sunday’s races would begin under the safety car and were disrupted by drama and incidents - one of which claimed the 19-year-old Stoneleigh driver.

King put the ill-fortune out of his mind and retained his composure in the weekend’s third and final outing as many around him skated off.

His reward was eighth position when the chequered flag fell, making him the leading F3 rookie in all three qualifying sessions and both races that he completed.

He added: “It would obviously have been nice to come away with three top-ten finishes, but still it was unquestionably a positive weekend for my F3 debut.”