More points for King in Austria
Date: 11 / 07 / 2017
Jordan King made it nine point finishes from ten races this past weekend when he finished in 9th and 6th place respectively at the Red Bull Ring, Austria.
Jordan’s weekend in Spielberg got off to a testing start as the MP Motorsport driver could only post a lap time of 1:15.099 in free practice – putting himself in 13th place as the session expired.
Next up for King was qualifying, an area of the weekend Jordan was looking to improve upon after his disappointing 15th position starting place for the feature in Baku in the previous round.
Warm but cloudy conditions saw another tight qualifying session from the Formula 2 grid, with 1st to 13th separated by only a second. Jordan’s time of 1:14.384 was only enough to put him in 13th place for the Saturday’s feature race – but he was later promoted to 12th after his teammate, Sergio Sette Camara, was disqualified from qualifying in post-session scrutineering.
Feature Race
As the lights eventually went out for Saturday’s Feature Race, after being held for what felt like an eternity, Jordan got off the line well and was on the inside line heading into turn one. Coming out of the first corner, Jordan was now running in 10th place as Boschung flew back onto the race track after running wide at the first corner.
Now side by side, heading around turn two, Jordan had the inside line as they approached turn three and another heavy braking zone. Later on the brakes, Jordan maintained his 10th place position heading out of turn three and heading back down the hill.
As more drivers squabbled for position, Jordan crossed the line for the end of lap one up in 9th position – three positions better off than he was at the start.
As Nato and Ghiotto fought for position, Jordan was right on the tail of the pair but couldn’t find a way past and began coming under pressure from Canamasas.
Losing time behind the scrapping Nato and Ghiotto, Jordan dived into the pits on lap six and rejoined the race in 17th place.
As Jordan managed his tyres from his early stop, he was back in 10th place after most of the stops and began coming under pressure from Deletraz. Losing his position to Deletraz, Jordan fought back and took 10th place and after teammate Sergio Sette Camara finally pitted, was back up in ninth place.
Crossing the finishing line in 9th place, Jordan missed out on reverse pole for Sunday’s Sprint Race by just one place – an agonisingly close result but more points nonetheless.
Sprint Race
After missing out on reverse pole by just one place, Jordan had to start Sunday’s Sprint Race from 9th place. When the lights went out for the second race of the weekend, Boschung stalled from the front row – making himself an obstacle for the rest of the grid to avoid. Jordan, luckily being on the other side of the grid, flew passed Boschung and a handful of other drivers who had to taking avoiding action.
Coming out of the first corner, Jordan was already up to 5th place and was this time side by side with Latifi as the pair headed up the hill. Just like in race one, Jordan took to the inside as he battled with Latifi to the left of him and championship leader, Charles Leclerc, who was right on his tail. Late on the brakes, Jordan made it round turn three and kept 5th place as Latifi came together with Sean Gelael.
As the safety car was brought up to recover Marciello’s car, after he had struck the stranded Boschung, Jordan had made another fantastic start in Austria and was running in 5th place after the first lap of racing.
Fighting with Latifi once again, Jordan fought brilliantly to keep the Canadian behind him and eventually started to build a gap and cement his 5th place.
As the race hit the 18-lap mark, Jordan began coming under pressure from Ghiotto who was absolutely flying. Jordan, on worn tyres, did little to fight against Ghiotto; knowing that fighting him would kill his tyres which may have caused him to lose more than one position by the end of the race.
Letting Ghiotto go past, Jordan eventually crossed the line in 6th place rounding off another positive weekend in this season’s Formula 2 championship.
Jordan feels his hard worked paid off as he managed to salvage two point finishes in Austria.
“It was a tough start to the weekend for us. We were struggling with the performance of the car from the first session and it felt like it was better for qualifying. I thought I hooked my qualifying lap up really well but it just wasn’t quick enough to put us where we wanted to be. I had great starts in both the races which was really important to the end results. Ultimately we didn’t have the pace to be on the podium but we’ll be working hard to change that in time for Silverstone.”
Jordan currently holds the 10th position in the Driver’s Standings with 43 points. Jordan’s team MP Motorsport occupy 7th place in the Team Standings, with Jordan having picked up all of the team’s 43 points.
#15 Jordan King (MP Motorsport)
Free Practice: 13th (1:15.099, +0.743)
Qualifying: 12th (1:14.384, +0.988)
Feature Race: 9th
Sprint Race: 6th