Leicester Mercury

King wants to be crowned champion for a second successive year

HARRY HOPES TO DRIVE COUNTY TEAM TO GLORY

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REIGNING Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Harry King will return for the 2021 season with Leicesters­hire-based Team Parker Racing as he aims to secure back-to-back titles.

The 20-year-old wowed audiences across the country with his unique, on-the-edge driving style in his maiden season as Porsche GB Junior Driver, taking 12 wins out of the 16 races across the year to clinch the overall championsh­ip.

Making his karting debut in 2012, King swiftly moved into the Ginetta Junior and Supercup championsh­ips, claiming the 2019 title in the latter, before impressing the judges to become the 2020-21 Porsche GB Junior Driver and signing with Team Parker Racing ahead of his maiden campaign in the Carrera Cup GB.

As well as his stunning exploits in the series, King also grabbed the attention of spectators at the Goodwood Speedweek, taking part in the one-lap timed shootout in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, finishing sixth quickest against Formula 1 and LMP machinery.

King and Team Parker Racing will open the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season at Snetterton, in Norfolk, over the weekend of May 14-16. After eight rounds and 16 races, the campaign will draw to a close at Brands Hatch, in Kent, in October.

King said: “I’m hugely excited to be returning back to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB as a Porsche Junior and to continue our partnershi­p with Team Parker Racing. “There’s no denying that we had a strong season last year and accomplish­ed everything that we set out to achieve, so I’m looking forward to continuing building on that during the season ahead. “To win in such recordbrea­king fashion last year was fantastic, but this is a new season, and we are all starting from zero again.

“My goal is to get the maximum we can from every race, which wasn’t always possible last year with three DNF’s for reasons that were simply out of my control.

“I am fully focused on securing a second championsh­ip in 2021, and I’ve done everything identicall­y to last season, from training to being in the same team with the same mechanics and engineers, so that there is no reason why we shouldn’t repeat what we did last year.

“I know that there is still room for improvemen­t and that I’m still learning.

“It is no secret that my goal is to progress to the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in the future, so it is important for me to work hard and keep progressin­g as a driver so that I’m ready for the challenges that are to come.

“I’m extremely proud to be representi­ng Porsche GB again in my second year as the Junior Driver.

“I’m looking forward to getting fully stuck into everything this year to continue my developmen­t as a driver.”

To win in such recordbrea­king fashion was fantastic but we all start from zero again Harry King, right and above

 ?? DAN BATHIE/JAKOB EBREY PHOTOGRAPH­Y ??
DAN BATHIE/JAKOB EBREY PHOTOGRAPH­Y

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