It was a mixed weekend for Harry King in the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup at Donington Park. Going into the race weekend King was at the top of the championship standings and hoping to keep it that way.
In qualifying there were damp conditions that made the track tricky, nonetheless King qualified third on the grid.
Race one brought a positive result, with King taking the victory by 2.5 sseconds. At the start of the race King jumped into the lead, but his chances of putting seconds between himself and second were stopped by a safety car period.
The race resumed but only a lap later the safety car was brought out again. The two safety cars were not a hindrance to Holyport based teenager as he made a good get away both times and took a race victory.
King’s second race ended before completing one lap as a driveshaft issue forced him into the pits and out of the race, a disappointment to King who was set to start the race in pole position.
On the third and final race of the weekend King started from the back of the Pro class in ninth. As he got to turn one contact from Colin White meant he got caught up in a spin, causing him to drop down the order. However a huge accident saw the race red flagged.
On the restart King make a better getaway in sixth place and he was soon up front contending for a podium finish.
Unfortunately, damaged steering from earlier saw King cross the line in fourth; still a good result but not the one he was aiming for.
With four overall podiums from the opening six races of the campaign, King is in second on the championship standings table.
Credit: Jakob Ebrey
“It’s been a real mixed bag of a weekend,” he said. “It was great to get the win in the opening race in conditions that were extremely difficult with the safety cars and the fact it was so cold on track.
“Keeping heat in the tyres was tough and I had to take a calculated risk to get ahead of Will [Burns] at the start. From there, it was a case of managing things at the front to get the victory.
“To not then be able to take the start of race two from pole was disappointing when it was an issue that was no fault of our own, and with others having faced similar problems, hopefully it is something that will be looked at.
“In the final race, I was lucky to avoid getting caught up in the incident that happened on track after the contact early on that dropped me back down the order.
“As I took to the grass in avoidance there was a wheel that went flying over the roof of my car! Unfortunately after the restart, it became clear there was an issue with the steering and I think we were lucky to get the finish and pick up some more solid points.
“We now have a bit of a break before heading for Croft and it will be interesting to see how the resurfacing work they have done over the winter affects things. I didn’t have the best weekend there last season and hopefully things will go better this time around.”
