Disappointment for King in Spa
Date: 08 / 05 / 2019
Jordan King endured a disappointing outing in only his second race in the World Endurance Championship in a dramatic snow-hit 6 Hours of Spa, where the team fought back from an early penalty to collect points but saw their charge for a podium fall short.
Lining up with Will Stevens and Heinemeier Hansson for the showpiece event at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the team were hoping to repeat the win the team picked up their in Jordan’s first outing with them in Sebring.
The week’s action got underway on Thursday with two rain-hit sessions kicking off proceedings. Running on Thursday was limited due to three red flags in practice two, reducing the time available for the preparation of the #37 team but all running was useful due to the wet weather predicted for qualifying.
Finishing practice one and two in 6th and 7th place in class respectively, the team then started Friday by finishing 2nd in class in the third and final practice session, with the best lap time of 2:01.826, showing promise ahead of the weekend.
Qualifying again saw another strong outing for the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota car, as David Heinemeier-Hansson and Will Stevens took qualifying duties and posted the average lap time of 2:01.558, which placed the team third in class and in P9 overall, behind the sister car #38 second in class, setting the team up for an exciting race.
Saturday’s race proved to be a dramatic race for everyone involved, as snow hit the track in Spa just a few minutes after the start, providing challenging conditions for everyone involved. Racing did continue for almost half-an-hour before conditions forced a safety car.
King started the race for the #37 car, and after a few appearances from the safety car in treacherous conditions, Jordan suffered a setback as he made contact with the #4 Bykolles car. This resulted in the team being given a 2-minute stop and go penalty, hampering their push to make the podium, as the car fell back down the grid and away from the podium.
Beginning to fight back from the early setback, the team were making good but slow progress back into the race as the aimed to recover a good result. The rain and snow then returned, slowing the team’s progress, and a bold strategy call didn’t pay off and the team came home in 7th place. Collecting eight points for the team, the #37 now sit 3rd in the LMP2 standings and just one point the sister #38 car.
“It was a crazy race, I’ve never seen anything like that before at the start. We were really unfortunate to pick up a penalty so early, and this hampered our chances of getting a podium. The team did a really strong job all weekend, and we were quick in practice and qualifying so it was quite a frustrating race in the end.”
Jordan will return to sportscar duties when he heads to the WEC SuperSeason finale, the 24 Hours of Les Mans (15-16 June), but first is off to Barcelona this weekend for the third round of the FIA Formula Two season.