PODIUM KICKS OFF JORDAN KING’S GP2 CAMPAIGN
Date: 16 / 05 / 2016
Jordan King left Barcelona with a new addition to his trophy cabinet, having finished third on Sunday in the first sprint race of the season.
King had a tricky Friday, with the team struggling to get on top of set-up and rain throwing a curve ball into the mix. This meant the Racing Engineering driver started the feature race 13th, but made some serious headway to cross the line in seventh having made up five places on the first lap. The result earned him a front row slot for the sprint race on Sunday.
The Englishman made a strong start and was battling pole-sitter Raffaele Marciello through Turn 1. He had to back off to avoid contact, which allowed countryman Alex Lynn through. He was able to dispatch Marciello on Lap 5 but was passed by Pierre Gasly a lap later, dropping him to P3 where he would remain.
With a total of 16 points from the first two races, King sits sixth in the GP2 Series championship.
Reflecting on the weekend, King said: “Overall it was a good weekend and I’m happy to leave Spain with some points and a podium. It was a frustrating start though, to line up for the first race in 13th.
“After winter testing I was very confident of challenging for wins but we had some issues with setting up the car. Thirteenth is not the way you want to start a season, but we made some positive changes to the car overnight and found the problems we were looking for.
“It meant Saturday was pretty racey and if the last safety car hadn’t come out I would have finished in the top five. The safety car was really annoying because it gifted everyone else a free pitstop, but that’s life I guess. I was happy with my performance but the result wasn’t anything to brag about.
“Sunday was better because I got to start P2 and came home third. The two guys who finished ahead were quicker, but behind us everyone else was a long way back, so I’m feeling confident that I can aim for more trophies in Monaco. I’m really looking forward to it.”