‏He is well-versed in the art of breaking records and establishing new benchmarks as he speeds his way up the motor racing ladder, and talented young Warwickshire star Jordan King will claim another one later this month, as he becomes the youngest driver ever to compete in the modern-day FIA Formula Two Championship.

Jordan is currently in the midst of his maiden campaign of car racing in the fiercely-contested Formula Renault UK single-seater series with Manor Competition, but he has already had a fleeting taste of Formula Two power with a toe-in-the-water test behind the wheel of one of the 500bhp beasts around Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo in late 2009, aged just 15 – the youngest driver to do so by more than two years.

After catching the eye both then and also during a one-off appearance in Formula Palmer Audi (FPA) at Silverstone last autumn – his car racing debut, extraordinarily yielding pole position and a podium finish – a palpably impressed Jonathan Palmer suggested that the Stoneleigh-based speed demon might like to try his hand at Formula Two racing in anger as well.

Palmer is the director of both series and – as a former F1 driver and expert commentator on the sport – well-practiced indeed in spotting potential. Having waxed lyrical about Jordan’s prowess after the Formula Two test and his outstanding FPA performance a year later, he is still singing the BRDC Rising Star’s praises from the rafters now.

“Despite his age, Jordan has already achieved a great deal of success, quickly rising through the ranks in karting and now beginning what will undoubtedly be a successful single-seater career,” he opined. “I watched Jordan’s first Formula Two test at Valencia, and he was really impressive – form that was backed up by his fantastic FPA debut. Jordan is very quick and cool with it, and I suspect the level playing field of Formula Two will enable him to prove just what a talent he is with some top ten results.”

At 17, the youngest competitor ever to grace the grid in the current era of Formula Two – a series that dates back to 1967 in its original incarnation – Jordan is clearly keen to live up to those rave reviews, and taking advantage of Formula Renault UK’s annual summer break, he will join the championship to race around three of the world’s most legendary circuits in the shape of Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring and Brands Hatch. As to pressure, he simply shrugs. What pressure?

“There will be more people watching me than usual, but I think there will be less pressure if anything, because nobody will really be expecting me to do much,” reasoned the Princethorpe College student, admitting that he ‘didn’t even know I was the youngest’. “It’s a really good opportunity for me, and I’m looking forward to learning as much as possible about the car – and getting to know some of the European circuits that I will come to later on in my career will be good experience, too.

“It will obviously be completely different to Formula Renault – with the turbo-boost, the Formula Two car has more than twice as much horsepower – but I don’t think it will be the power as such that is the most difficult thing to adjust to; that kind of comes as second-nature. It will be more the way the car handles and the delivery of the power, because with the turbo, you get on the gas and have to wait a second for the power to come.

“The Valencia test was so long ago now that I’m not sure how much use it will be, to be honest, plus it was my first time in a racing car full-stop, so everything I was doing then was brand new. I thought my dad was a bit crazy putting me in a racing car at 15! I lapped inside the top ten on the second day, though, and got to within a second of the fastest time – so if that’s anything to go by, hopefully our speed should be quite good.

“I know it’s going to be difficult, especially going from one formula to another, but I’m keen to experience as much as possible to help progress my career. I’m going into the Formula Two Championship with high hopes, and I’d like to be up at the sharp end again and in the points-scoring positions.”

There was, unfortunately, little points-scoring in Jordan’s most recent Formula Renault UK outing at Oulton Park in Cheshire, as the Hugo Boss brand ambassador endured what he described as ‘a very disappointing weekend’, slithering off-track whilst doing battle for fifth position in race one and paying the price for a ‘disastrous’ qualifying session in race two in a championship in which overtaking – by nature of the cars’ finely-honed aerodynamics – is invariably at an absolute premium.

“There were wet patches on the circuit in the first race, and I must have been just half-a-foot too far to the left and hit one of them, because as soon as I turned in, I lost the rear end,” he recounted. “I managed to catch it again, but by then I was facing the wrong direction and heading towards the gravel trap! That was a shame, because we had been strong in terms of pace and looking set for a good result, and that tiny moment cost me the race.

“The main positive we can take from the weekend is that I was the quickest driver in the team, so now we need to get back on-track next time out at Croft, which was quite a strong circuit for Manor in pre-season testing. I think our pace should be good there, and hopefully we can score a decent result to quickly forget about Oulton Park.” And after that, well, what better tonic than some Formula Two therapy..?