Jordan King displayed some Dutch courage of his own with a gritty performance in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, but despite an eye-catching turn-of-speed, circumstances conspired to frustratingly keep the talented Warwickshire star off the podium.
Having dipped his toe into the water in the Northern European Cup at Oschersleben in Germany a fortnight earlier, Jordan headed to legendary former F1 circuit Zandvoort for the first time with a better idea of what to expect. Up against fierce opposition in the shape of some of the fastest young single-seater drivers in Europe, after being cruelly denied a deserved breakthrough Formula Renault UK victory at Snetterton the weekend beforehand, the highly-rated Stoneleigh-based speed demon was fired-up to make amends.
“The aim was to get two top five finishes at least, if not two podiums,” he revealed, “and I was feeling pretty confident given the pace we’d had at Snetterton. It was good to be able to gel with the team a bit more and get to know them properly after working together at Oschersleben – they’re a great bunch of guys, and MP Motorsport is a very professional outfit.
“I really enjoyed the track; it’s quite tight-and-twisty, and good fun to drive. It only took me ten laps or so to get used to it, and after that, I felt pretty comfortable. We were quick in both the wet and the dry, too, so I was happy in all conditions.”
Given that the rain set in after opening practice and subsequently never truly relented, that was just as well, and despite the prestige of the occasion – featuring on the support package for the extremely high-profile and televised F3 Masters event, making it the perfect shop window for Jordan to showcase his potential – the 17-year-old maturely shrugged off any notions of extra pressure, reasoning that ‘you just have to shut all that out and not think about it...if you simply concentrate on your job, it doesn’t really matter what else happens’.
Immediately on the pace during practice – lapping sixth-quickest in the dry and fourth in the wet in the 24-strong field – the BRDC Rising Star’s qualifying efforts were unfortunately hindered by finding himself out on-track at the wrong moment in the weather-afflicted first session, and persistent yellow flags in the second that scuppered what he was convinced could ‘quite comfortably’ have been a top three starting position, and possibly even a front row slot. As it was, he would begin race one from fourth and race two from fifth.
“At the start of the first race, I didn’t quite get the balance right between the clutch, brake and accelerator in the wet and I stalled, which dropped me down to 20th,” he recounted. “I was still pretty relaxed and chilled, but it was really hard to come through the pack purely because there was so much spray – you couldn’t see a thing!
“It was probably the wettest race I’ve ever driven in, and that made overtaking particularly tricky – I was even having to ease off down the straights at times because there were kinks in it and I couldn’t see where I was going, and you couldn’t spot your braking-points properly.
“Actually attacking other drivers for position was so difficult – I could be much quicker and sat just five metres behind the rear wing of the guy in front, but I couldn’t do anything about it – and that meant a lot of it was about taking advantage of people’s mistakes. Apart from the start, though, I was happy with the speed we showed and that I had been able to come back through so well in those conditions.”
A superb recovery, Jordan took the chequered flag in seventh place – although the third-fastest lap time hinted at what might have been. Race two the following day would follow a not altogether dissimilar pattern.
“The track was horribly greasy and really slippery, with next-to-no grip,” the Princethorpe College student recalled, “and that caused a mixture of understeer and oversteer throughout the race. I got a good start and was battling with the group in front around the opening lap, but then I went for a move up the inside into one of the corners and found myself squeezed between a couple of other cars, which brought me practically to a standstill.
“I ended up losing a load of places just through being in the wrong position on the track – at the time, it had been the right thing to do, but 200 metres later it turned into the wrong thing. I dropped down to tenth, but then a driver spun off ahead and I was able to overtake a few others and fight my way through to fifth. It was a bit annoying again, because we easily had the pace to finish on the podium.”
Third-quickest once more and less than a second adrift of the rostrum at the close, Jordan reflected that it had nonetheless represented ‘good experience’ and ‘a confidence-booster’ – and as he looks ahead now, he has his sights firmly set on breaking his bad luck hoodoo in the forthcoming Formula Renault UK outing at Silverstone, another famous grand prix circuit and the celebrated ‘Home of British Motor Racing’.
“It was another weekend where the speed was there but we never actually got the results to show for it,” the Hugo Boss brand ambassador mused in conclusion. “That seems to be a bit of a trend this year, but we were strong in testing at Silverstone and given our pace over the last few meetings, there’s no reason at all why we shouldn’t be right up at the front again. The goal will be two podium finishes – as a minimum...”
