Champagne moment for leading European Formula 3 rookie King

King lined up a superb fourth for each of the first two races and third for race three, less than a tenth of a second adrift of the front row of the grid.

Using old tyres, the Stoneleigh-based driver staved off the the challenge of championship leader Raffaelle Marciello in race one to secure fourth place and repeated the feat in race two as he took the chequered flag barely half-a-second shy of the rostrum.

However, he made sure to save the very best until last in the weekend’s third and final outing.

Gaining a spot with a lightning getaway, King proceeded to keep experienced F3 Masters winner and title protagonist Felix Rosenqvist honest throughout, never allowing the gap between the pair to extend much beyond a second and pulling away at will from the battle behind.

“I’ve been working hard on my starts, and that really paid off,” said King.

“Daniil Kvyat was a little slow away, which gave me a run and I was able to pass him around the outside into Turn One for the first time.

“After that, I focused on putting Rosenqvist under as much pressure as I could, but after dominating the Masters in the manner that he had and with the level of experience he has at F3 level, I knew he would be an incredibly tough nut to crack.”

A tremendously impressive effort as he narrowed the deficit to less than four-tenths of a second at the flag, the runner-up spoils represented King’s second podium and finest finish in European F3, elevating him to sixth position in the drivers’ standings.

“I was really encouraged by how the weekend went,” said the 19-year-old.

“We scored a lot of points and have gained some serious ground in the championship - to the extent that the top five is now a very real target.”