King set for coronation after building unassailable lead
Motoracing: Harry is provisional Porsche Carrera Cup champion after claiming two victories at Snetterton
Holypor t’s Harry King provisionally secured the 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup GB title with another stunning weekend on the track at Snetterton.
The Porsche GB Junior driver went into the weekend having already taken eight wins in his debut season in the series, results that had seen him open up a handy 28 point lead in the Drivers Championship heading into the Norfolk race meeting.
Fresh from a starring role at the Goodwood Speedweek event the previous weekend, the 19-year-old headed into the penultimate meeting of the year looking to build on his double victory at Silverstone a month earlier.
Fourth fastest in mixed conditions during Friday’s testing, the Team
Parker Racing driver then faced a long wait on Saturday before qualifying took place in fading light at the end of the day.
Saving his best laps until the closing moments of the session, Harry would set two lap times that were good enough to snare a seventh successive pole position, maintaining his 100 per cent record in qualifying this season.
Overnight rain meant tricky circuit conditions greeted Harry and his rivals for the opening race on Sunday morning, with drivers being given two green flag laps ahead of the start to give them an indication of what to expect when the action kicked off.
When the lights went out, Harry slipped back to second as Matty
Graham got off to a flyer, but when Graham ran slightly wide at turn one, Harry nipped back ahead to retake the lead. From that point on, Harry was never seriously troubled as he stormed away from the pack behind to take win number nine of the campaign by more than 10 seconds.
With the top four on the grid reversed for race two, Harry went into the weekend’s second race knowing the championship title would be provisionally his if results went his way.
A solid opening lap saw him get ahead of Graham into third and he seized his chance to overtake closest rival Josh Webster at the Montreal Hairpin on lap two. Harry then slid down the inside of leader Will Martin just two corners later to take the lead and he eased away from the field to secure his 10th victory of the season.
It’s given Harry an unassailable lead in the standings heading into the season finale at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit next month.
“It’s been a phenomenal season and I can’t put into words how I feel right now,” he said. “To represent Porsche as the Junior Driver is a huge privilege for me, and to wrap up the title with a round to spare is absolutely brilliant.
“It’s been another strong weekend on track and having taken the win in race one, I wanted to try and wrap up the title in style in race two; which is exactly what I managed to do.
“From the first qualifying session of the season at Donington Park, I knew could challenge for the title as we had been competitive in pre-season testing. Even when we had some rough times in the middle of the season, to have taken ten race wins is credit to the whole team for doing a fantastic job, and this is something I won’t forget for a while.
“To be only 19 and have two championship titles to my name - and particularly one as prestigious as the Porsche Carrera Cup - is an amazing feeling, and I think it will put me in a good place for my career going forwards.”