King of the mountains!
DOUBLE VICTORY FOR HARRY ON DEBUT IN PORSCHE CARRERA CUP BENELUX RACES IN AUSTRIA
PARKER Revs Motorsport celebrated an excellent weekend in Austria’s Styrian mountains as Harry King took victory in both Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux races at the Red Bull Ring.
Joining the series as a one-off entry to get some racing experience in the new 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the reigning Carrera Cup GB champion showed his skill as he bounced back from disappointment in qualifying to claim two comfortable wins.
Unable to set representative lap times in qualifying, the BRDC superStar lined up fourth on the grid for both 30-minute races but wasted no time in getting to the front of the field.
Skilfully avoiding the stalled machine of Xavier Maassen for the first race on Saturday, King passed Glenn Van Parijs into the first turn and then went side-by-side with Thierry Vermeulen in the run down to the tight turn three, where he assumed the lead, which he held to the flag.
It was a similar story early on Sunday morning as he again got off the line well, passing Huub Van Eijndhoven and Maassen on the opening lap and sitting behind Van Parijs.
On the second lap, King got a good run out of turn one and made a clean move up the inside into turn three before once again pulling clear of the field for a second, untroubled win.
Leicestershire-based Parker Revs Motorsport will now head to the streets of Monaco for the opening round of the Porsche Supercup, where King will be joined by teammate Michael Crees for what will be a challenging start to the season.
King said: “It was nice to get my first few racing laps under my belt overseas.
“I went in with a bit of sim practice but just enough to get to know the circuit and no more.
“I don’t like to do loads of time on the sim, plus I had a bit of assistance from Josh [Webster] which was really kind and generous of him. Parker Revs Motorsport did a great job with Patrick [de Groot] and the guys giving me a fantastic car.
“I’m really pleased with such a strong weekend for my first races on European soil.
“I didn’t expect to be on the pace so quickly as there were only the two free practice sessions to dial into the track.
“Qualifying wasn’t ideal as I hadn’t done a new tyre run around the circuit but when I found the limit I got caught behind a couple of slower cars and then we lost the best of the rubber.
“But it meant I had to come through in the races, and that gave me some valuable experience overtaking in the new car.
“To win both races was great. The Benelux championship has a competitive field so I’m pretty happy with the outcome.
“I’ve now got a couple of days before flying out to Monaco on Wednesday for the first round of the Supercup.”