King warmed by his Winter Series taster

After claiming a top-ten finish on his championship debut at Snetterton, King headed to Pembrey vowing to improve upon that.

However, on a damp-but-drying track, the Stoneleigh-based driver missed the best of the conditions and was left to start race one from 16th position.

Undeterred, he scythed through the field, overtaking teammate Josh Hill – son of 1996 F1 world champion Damon – to snatch a superb sixth place on the penultimate lap.

“The whole team struggled in qualifying,” said King. “We didn’t get the timing right in terms of when the track was at its best; in that kind of situation, it’s all about being out at the right time.

“Our speed was really good in the race, but the problem is that once you get close to the car in front, you can’t go any quicker than them because of all the aerodynamic grip - so to pass ten drivers in 20 laps I thought was pretty good.”

Admitting his form had been “encouraging and frustrating at the same time”, the 16-year-old had the consolation of finishing as the leading Manor driver, having begun behind all three of his teammates.

Sadly, race two would not last anything like as long, with the Princethorpe College student suffering a puncture shortly after working his way up to ninth.

“Someone moved over a little to avoid an accident and my front wing tagged his rear wheel, went underneath my car and punctured one of my tyres,” said King.

“That was a shame because we could definitely have had another top-six finish.”

After qualifying in 11th the following day – a mere six tenths of a second adrift of the benchmark – King’s weekend would quickly go downhill.

Finding himself sent bouncing over the kerb by a rival in the first of the day’s two races, King lost aerodynamic grip, and consequently speed, thanks to the resultant damage to his front wing.

To rub salt into the wounds, another driver then got into a tangle with King while attempting a similarly over-ambitious manoeuvre to ruin the Hugo Boss brand ambassador’s chances in the weekend’s final encounter.

Although the outcome was not what he had been hoping for, King believes the foundations have been laid for a successful 2011 campaign.

“The basic speed is there,” he said, “And progress has been made in other areas, too, so that’s all good. I’m just disappointed we didn’t manage to get any decent results.

“Doing the Winter Series paid off in terms of building my experience, though, and more testing will help us to find the last couple of tenths that we need.

“Then, hopefully, if we can get qualifying sorted in time for the main season next year, we’ll be able to start winning some races.”