Ed Carpenter Racing has announced today that British driver Jordan King will join the team for a partial schedule in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series. King will share driving duties of the #20 Chevrolet with team-owner Ed Carpenter. King will be in the driving seat for the road course and street circuit rounds of the championship, with Carpenter behind the wheel for the oval races.
King, a former GP2 / Formula Two race winner, competed in his third season of the primary Formula One feeder series last year, but it was a frustrating one that led to King exploring other options. After having visited the Verizon IndyCar series for the 2016 finale at Sonoma Raceway, King pursued an opportunity across the pond which culminated in today’s news.
“I am beyond excited to get started in the Verizon IndyCar Series,” said King in a statement for ECR. “After winning at Silverstone in 2016 and being able to drive in F1 practice, 2017 was not what I was hoping for. Going into the new season, I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity with ECR to work towards our collective goals. I believe that together, both of us have the capability to do well!”
Twenty-three-year-old King started racing Karts back in 2005 and graduated to single-seater racing in 2010 when he made his debut in the Formula Palmer Audi series. The following year, he moved up to Formula Renault UK before jumping up to Formula Renault 2.0 for 2012. Second place in the championship that year would put him onto the grid of both the British and European Formula Three championships for 201. He would go on to take the title in the British Formula Three series by the end of the year; beating out fellow junior formulae competitors such as Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi to take the crown.
Another year in European Formula Three followed in 2014. In 2015, King would make his GP2 Series debut with Racing Engineering and would also sign as Manor Racing‘s Formula One development driver. 2016 was his best year in GP2, with Jordan taking two victories at the Red Bull Ring and his home circuit of Silverstone en route to taking seventh in the standings.
For 2017, Jordan remained in the Formula One feeder series as it transitioned to become FIA Formula Two, but his move to MP Motorsport would not bring him the results he would’ve hoped for. A lowly eleventh place in the standings with a best finish of fourth place would be his only takeaways from the year. He is now hoping that his big move across the Atlantic will be a risk worth taking to put him back on the single-seater racing map as he aims to impress in his part-time role with Ed Carpenter Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
“We are very excited to welcome Jordan to the ECR family and to have him in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet for the 2018 road and street course races,” said team-owner Ed Carpenter, “I first met Jordan at Sonoma Raceway in 2016 as he was exploring opportunities in INDYCAR. He is a very motivated, intelligent and hungry driver, which is exactly what we are looking for at ECR. Jordan has had a lot of success and experience in Europe and I can’t wait to see what he is capable of with ECR in the Verizon IndyCar Series.”
King’s debut in the Verizon IndyCar Series will come at the season-opening race, the Grand Prix of St Petersburg on March 11. He will be back behind the wheel for ten more races after that, only missing the oval races at Phoenix, Indianapolis, Texas, Iowa, Pocono and Gateway. His first taste of IndyCar machinery is likely to come during pre-season testing that will begin at various locations across the United States over the next month.