King shines through the spray for maiden Formula Renault UK podium

He had been threatening this kind of result for some time, truth be told, but the accomplished manner in which Jordan King artfully achieved his breakthrough podium finish in the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship at Croft suggests it will be far from his last.

Having challenged right up at the front at Thruxton two rounds earlier, Jordan then endured a ‘nightmare’ at Oulton Park – struggling for speed in one of the races and finding himself caught out by a puddle whilst well-placed in the other – meaning he travelled to Croft determined to make amends.

A self-confessed fan of the North Yorkshire circuit’s tight, twisty and technical nature, after lapping encouragingly quickly during practice, the highly-rated Warwickshire star headed into qualifying in optimistic mood and ready to ‘put it all together’.

Unfortunately, the first session in wet conditions would swiftly degenerate into a disaster, as whilst the tyres on Jordan’s Manor Competition single-seater were at their peak immediately, the track was not. The upshot was 12th and last place on the starting grid for the opening encounter – by which time the circuit had dried out – and a couple of subsequent issues failed to make matters any easier.

“The clutch broke at the start, which meant I didn’t get away properly,” revealed the talented Stoneleigh-based speed demon. “I lost a lot of time there, and it was disappointing that I couldn’t gain any ground through the first few corners, but I soon latched onto the back of the pack and when two drivers ahead ran a bit wide, I gained a couple of places.

“Later, I managed to get one of my team-mates up the inside into the hairpin, but then my steering column broke as well which made the car horrible to drive. There was no feeling, and I was having to hold the steering wheel up instead of it being in a fixed position – it was constantly moving about in my hands! That was probably the biggest issue I’ve ever had to deal with during a race, and it restricted me to ninth place at the end; without the problems, I’m pretty sure I could have got past the group just ahead, which would have put me sixth.”

Only three seconds adrift of P6 at the chequered flag and with a fastest lap time better than all three of the drivers directly in front of him, the results sheet ably bore out Jordan’s conviction, and he would begin race two from ninth, after the elements had once more conspired against him in qualifying.

With precipitation in the air and anticipating a downpour, the BRDC Rising Star ventured out on-track immediately and laid down an early benchmark, but then the rain unexpectedly stopped and other drivers who had gambled on waiting were able to lap faster as Jordan’s tyres had passed their best. Had the heavens not relented, he would likely have ended up on pole position. As it was, he was back on the fifth row.

“At the start, I got past Josh Hill up the inside into the first corner, but because that left me on the wet line, I got a slow exit and lost a bit of time to the group in front,” the 17-year-old recounted. “I also got a hit from behind going through the second corner, but whilst that bent the floor of the car slightly, fortunately it didn’t seem to affect its performance.

“The drivers ahead then got into a bit of a squabble, and on the exit of Tower Bend I managed get past one of them, which moved me up to seventh – and on the next lap, someone else ploughed straight into the tyres at the chicane which meant I was sixth.

“I then caught the group fighting over third, and as I got onto the back of them, there was a coming-together between a couple of them into the last corner and I was able to out-drag them both on the exit. I pulled away and focussed on trying to catch the drivers in second and third, and one of them went off in front of me as the rain started falling again.

“When that happened, we seemed to find the grip immediately whilst everyone else was still looking for it, and that enabled me to get on it pretty quickly. You can’t just throw the car about in those conditions – you can manhandle a kart in the wet and use the weight of your body to move it around, but because a car is so much bigger, you have to take it a bit more cautiously.

“I kept putting myself in the right place at the right time, made a few moves on people and put pressure on when I needed to – and that meant the gaps opened up. We had the pace, and once I was in third, I started closing on the driver ahead by about a second-a-lap.

“There was quite a big gap but I thought I had a chance, until I made a small mistake which sent me briefly sideways. If I’d needed points to fight for the championship or something like that, for sure I’d have kept on pushing to try to catch him, but I’m not in that situation so I decided to slow it down a little and settle for third.”

Wisely deeming that with grip levels at a distinct premium, discretion was indeed the better part of valour, Jordan belied the fact that he is one of the youngest drivers in the field by maturely keeping his head in treacherously slippery conditions that caused many of his more experienced adversaries to lose theirs.

Positive that he could have done exactly the same in the dry, the fastest lap of the Graduate Cup contenders – better than that of the driver he had been chasing down – clearly confirmed his raw speed. The fact that he was a touch disappointed to ‘only’ be third simply underlined his burning motivation – but he has nonetheless palpably earned the respect of his rivals, who are really sitting up and taking notice of Jordan King now.

“It was a little frustrating we couldn’t have done it from the front, but it’s a different achievement coming through from the back,” the Princethorpe College student reflected. “We had a few problems over the course of the weekend, so to get my first podium in Formula Renault UK was a really good outcome at the end of it. Hopefully it will be the first of many, and we can take that confidence on to the next round.”

Before that, however, Jordan has a little bit of history to make, when he becomes the youngest driver ever to start a race in the current era of the FIA Formula Two Championship around legendary Belgian Grand Prix circuit Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. After lapping an impressive eighth-quickest during testing at Snetterton earlier this month, he is bullish about his prospects.

“It’s good to go into a different championship having proven the speed is there,” affirmed the Hugo Boss brand ambassador in conclusion. “The top ten is the aim, I think it’s doable – and I’ll definitely be giving it a go!”