It had, he conceded, been a long time coming, but now that Jordan King has belatedly ascended the Formula Renault Eurocup rostrum with an inspired effort at the Hungaroring, the talented young Warwickshire single-seater ace is fired-up to produce a repeat performance.
King travelled to the Hungarian F1 venuejust outside of Budapestpreparing to make his debut around the famously tight-and-twisty circuit, but ever the quick learner that he is, the highly-rated Stoneleigh-based speed demon was swiftly onto the front-running pace during practice to place fourth and seventh in the two sessions.
Its a very enjoyable track to drive, and it requires you to really grab your car by the horns and manhandle it round the lap, he explained. We got into the groove pretty much immediately, which was obviously an encouraging start, and thanks to Manor MP Motorsport, my cars grip and balance levels enabled me to push the way I wanted to.
Confident of a top five grid slot, King proceeded to qualify a season-best third out of the 33 Eurocup contenders, leaving him bullish about his prospects in the opening encounter.
I didnt get the greatest of starts and was on the outside line heading into the first corner, where I found myself squeezed out a little, recounted the 18-year-old British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) Rising Star. That dropped me to fifth, but then there was a coming-together ahead, which allowed me to regain third.
After that, I spent the remainder of the race staring at the gearbox of the driver in second. I was consistently quicker than him, but he must have been carrying less rear wing than I was because whilst I could close up into corners, down the straights he would just pull away again. That, combined with the Hungaroring being a circuit around which it is notoriously difficult to overtake, made for a frustrating afternoon!
There were a couple of opportunities to perhaps go for a move, but both would have involved a risky, late lunge, and it was more important to finish on the podium than to have an accident whilst trying to take second place. It was my first-ever Eurocup podium and the first for Manor MP Motorsport as a joint operation, too, so everybody inside the team was very happy. Its been a long time coming. Weve known the speed has been there all yearits just been a case of putting it all together.
His finest Eurocup finish to-date, third position also saw King defeat a cluster of competitors backed by the likes of F1 big-hitters McLaren and Red Bull, and in a field of a calibre to rival any junior single-seater championship around the world, the impressive result has elevated him into the top ten in the drivers standings.
The following day, a change in the wind direction made grip levels in qualifying difficult to accurately ascertain, and allied to a dose of oversteer, that restricted the MSA Academy member to an uncharacteristically lowly 14th on the starting grid when he palpably had the potential to figure significantly higher up the order.
From there, the race was always going to be something of an uphill struggle, and after making early progress into the top ten, King lost ground when a subsequent overtaking attempt failed to come off, seeing him take the chequered flag an appropriately unlucky 13th.
Undeterred, however, the Hugo Boss brand ambassador has already turned his focus towards the next outing on the 2012 calendar at Paul Ricard in southern France where, having broken his Eurocup podium duck at the Hungaroring, he is bidding to double up. On current form, he is certainly well on the right track.
