King finds the winning Formula in dramatic Silverstone finale

The 19-year-old showed promise from the outset, extracting the maximum pace from his Volkswagen-powered machinery to qualify on the front row for races one and three.

A mistake from the Harbury-based driver saw him stall off the start of race one and although he fought his way back through the field, damage sustained courtesy of a coming together with Carlin stable-mate Jann Mardenborough eventually forced his retirement.

King’s failure to finish meant he was forced to take up a back-row start position for the second race.

However, he demonstrated his excellent overtaking ability to come through from 18th to cross the line in sixth.

He finally made his raw speed count on the third race of the weekend.

Despite losing a handful of places in the early laps, falling foul to the Fortec Motorsports duo of Felix Serralles and Will Buller, King kept his head amid the chaos of the start and was to profit when the Fortec team-mates tangled, causing Serralles to fall well down the order and demoting Buller to third as King jumped up the order to second.

From thereon in, King set about catching leader John Bryant-Meisner, who was competing as an invitation entry.

He was unable to overcome the deficit, though, crossing the line just over a second adrift of Bryant-Meisner.

But it was King who stood atop the podium, taking full points to end his Silverstone weekend on a high.