News Article
King produces podium in Toyota Racing Series
17-year-old Jordan King claimed his first Toyota Racing Series podium on Sunday, taking third in the Timaru Herald Trophy in New Zealand.
The weekend got off to an impressive start when King topped the times in pre-event testing, but he was unable to confirm his undoubted pace during qualifying however, as traffic halted his progress. Both of King’s flying laps in the session were interrupted by slower runners and the Leamington Spa speedster had to settle for fourth row starts for the opening two races.
A splendid start from King had the King of Shaves-backed driver up to sixth in race one, before he was forced on the grass and dropped back to eighth. A determined Jordan spent the remainder of the race re-catching the group and making one pass, to claim seventh at the finish.
His best was yet to come however, when King produced a stunning drive in the 20 lap feature race.
Starting from eighth, he set about passing two rivals in the early running and he was up into fifth shortly after, as his 2011 Formula Renault team-mate Josh Hill tumbled down the order.
Jordan continued to apply pressure to those ahead and both Bruno Bonifacio and Hannes van Asseldonk finally cracked in the slippery conditions. The duo fell out of contention after a late incident and King wasted no time by nipping through into third.
He never looked back and crossed the line to take his maiden podium in the series, in only his second weekend racing Down Under.
King rounded off the weekend with another top ten finish in race three, cementing his reputation as one of the quickest newcomers in TRS.
A full report on Jordan’s exploits in Timaru will be published here over the coming days, ahead of the third round of the series next weekend.
