News Article
King is ready for 2012 bow down under
Jordan King will start what is set to be an exciting and lengthy season in the small hours of Friday morning when the opening qualifying session of the Toyota Racing Series gets underway in New Zealand.
The five round series runs over consecutive weekends with the season opener taking place in Teretonga (13/15 January) this weekend. Dubbed as the country’s premier, fastest and most fiercely competitive single-seater championship, the Toyota Racing Series spans from mid-January to mid-February and goes on to visit tracks at Timaru, Taupo, Hampton Downs and Manfeild.
Jordan will be spending the entire period in New Zealand, building up his experience and fitness as he prepares for his main championship challenge in Europe this summer. He completed the final TRS test yesterday prior to Friday’s qualifying sessions, but admitted to enduring a relatively frustrating day of running.
“Thursday was a little up and down,” said Jordan. “The first session went well – it started out wet, but we ended up on slick tyres and we were third quickest. All felt good but the second session, which also started wet and ended dry, was a bit more of a struggle as we were running on very old tyres.
“The final session was completely dry but our quickest run on fresh rubber was scuppered by red flags, which was a little disappointing as we weren’t able to show our true speed. So to sum up the day, it was a little frustrating due to the weather, traffic and red flags, but we have learnt a lot and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
The one-make, slicks n’ wings formula – marrying a Tatuus-designed carbon-fibre chassis to a 215bhp Toyota engine – will not only guarantee a level playing-field, but should also not be a million miles away from what Jordan has been accustomed to in Formula Renault UK this year.
Qualifying at Teretonga takes place on Friday before the opening races of the season on Saturday and Sunday – the official Jordan King website will keep you up to date on his progress.
