with strong performance on international stage
Despite what was ultimately a frustrating weekend on foreign shores in the fourth round of the fiercely-contested 2010 WSK Euro Series at Genk, Jordan King took great encouragement from the progress he and his JRP outfit have made, as he prepares to do battle for what is arguably the greatest prize of all.
The young Warwickshire karting star headed across the Channel in positive spirits, being very much a fan of the challenging Belgian circuit and having produced a spellbinding performance there last year to storm from the back of the field following an early knock to a magnificent podium finish – lapping more than a second out of reach of any of his rivals in the teeming rain.
“It’s fast and flowing, which means you have to be really smooth,” he explained. “I’ve got a fair bit of experience there, and we were quite quick during testing. Unfortunately, our TM engine doesn’t have as much power as the Vortex, though, which does make things difficult and means we have to push a bit harder and find more time in other places to compensate.”
With two long straights at Genk, that kind of issue left Jordan at an immediate disadvantage, but a superb effort in a qualifying session characterised by changeable conditions saw the Harbury ace place third in his group – a scant five thousandths of a second adrift of P2 – and a strong ninth overall out of the 68 KF2 class competitors, composed of the very crème de la crème of international talent.
Having made a bit of a breakthrough in qualifying of late – with pole position in the hotly-fought Super 1 Series at Larkhall – Jordan reflected that ‘it’s definitely good to be starting up at the sharp end from the word ‘go’ instead of having to work our way through in the heats’, and that paved the way to a brilliant second place in his opening heat in Belgium, just 1.6 seconds shy of victory. Unfortunately – and through no fault of his own – heat two would not go so well.
“I went really hard around the outside into the first corner and got up to second,” the 16-year-old revealed, “but I then got fired off just four corners later! Three laps after that I got pushed out wide again and ended up finishing 23rd. I was pretty annoyed with that; it made my job harder than it would have been in the last two heats, given that I could definitely have been inside the top three again.”
Solid results in heats three and four – finishing respectively fifth and eighth – earned Jordan 15th on the grid for the pre-final, though without his earlier misfortune he would likely have been inside the top seven, what he acknowledges ‘would have made things a lot easier, especially being a little bit down-on-power like we were, which obviously makes it more difficult to come through the pack’.
“I got up to fifth at the start,” he recounted, “and for the first few laps we were quite quick, but then after that the kart began to slide around a bit, and whilst everybody else seemed to get a bit faster we didn’t improve. I started to go backwards, but if you go wide at Genk it costs you a lot of time, so I stuck to my line and just tried to drive the best I could.
“It was frustrating not being able to do anything about it really, but every time somebody came past me I tried to stay with them, and we still scored some points towards the championship, so it could have been worse – if I hadn’t got such a good start, I might not have ended up with any points at all.
“Then at the start of the grand final there was a massive crash; I was on the inside in fourth place and thought I had just managed to avoid it, but I got tagged and spun round into it. That cost me a lot of time and left me down near the back of the field. Frustratingly, we were actually closer to the pace than we had been in the pre-final and I’m convinced we could have had a single-digit finish.
“Overall, though, we definitely made more progress with the engine and have moved forward with it again. When everything was right we were pretty quick, and in qualifying we were the fastest of the TMs and the fastest Energy chassis too – so of all the drivers on the same kit, we were right up there. It’s hard with the level of competition out there and we still need to find a bit more time – but if we can do that, we should be good for the European Championship Final.”
That meeting will take place at Genk in mid-July, and Jordan’s participation is his reward for having successfully navigated his way through his qualification round at PF International in Lincolnshire earlier this month. Prior to that, however, the Repton School pupil has another date in his diary – the next Super 1 outing at Nutts Corner in Ireland.
Last year, he proved to be rapid indeed there and broke the lap record, only for an errant chain to spoil his day during the heats and leave him towards the back of the starting grid for the first final. Having stormed his way up through the order into ninth at the chequered flag, the second final was then cancelled due to poor weather conditions and fading light, just as Jordan was revved up and primed to charge. With some unfinished business in Co. Antrim, he hopes a rub of the green will make it third time lucky in 2010.
“I like the track – it’s a real drivers’ circuit – and I really need to get a win now in Super 1,” he concluded. “The first round didn’t go too well, and then in the second the engine blew after we’d put it on pole – so this time, we have to aim for the very top.”
