Harry King battles hard for home podium
Rising star Harry King produced a battling performance on track to secure a well-earned home podium as the Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup headed to Silverstone for the third round of the season.
The BWT Lechner Racing driver went into his home event on the back of a solid start to his second season in the F1 support series, with a maiden podium finish at Imola being followed by a top five result on the streets of Monte Carlo.
With the 2021 race having been cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harry - a member of the BRDC’s Superstars programme - was making his first appearance on the famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, with his outings in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB having come on the shorter National layout.
Harry showed strong pace in Friday practice to end up third fastest, less than a tenth of a second off P1, and then repeated the feat in a tricky qualifying session on Saturday when rain shortly after the start made conditions difficult on track.
With the weather improved for Sunday’s all-important race, Harry made a fine start to jump ahead of Larry Ten Voorde going through Abbey for the first time and then made a brave move for the lead on Laurin Heinrich, only for the defending champion to seize the opportunity to reclaim second place heading onto the Wellington Straight.
An early caution period for debris then halted proceedings before the race got back underway in earnest on lap four, with Harry racing hard to keep team-mate Dylan Pereira - winner at Imola earlier in the season - at bay despite his best efforts to get ahead into Vale shortly after the restart.
Holding onto his position, Harry was able to build a slender advantage before Pereira fought back over the closing laps, launching an attack at Stowe that Harry was able to fend off.
A brief moment for Harry heading onto the Wellington Straight for the final time allowed Pereira to once again close the gap between the pair but Harry was able to bring his car to the finish to secure a well deserved, and popular, home podium in third place.
That made Harry the first British driver to score a podium in the series at Silverstone since the late Sean Edwards back in 2012 and means he has now moved up to fourth in the championship standings ahead of round four of the year at the Red Bull Ring - a circuit where Harry is already a multiple race winner in Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux.
“From the moment we hit the track in practice we have been really competitive this weekend,” he said. “We showed strong pace which set us up well for qualifying, and that proved to be a very weird session with the rain coming down as it did, as we only really got one lap in to secure P3.
“In the race, I got a really good start to get ahead of Larry at turn one and then tried an audacious move on Laurin but it didn’t quite come off and Larry was able to sneak back through.
“From there, it was pretty plain sailing as we were all quite similar on pace but I’m delighted to score a podium on my first appearance at my home Grand Prix.
“To be the first British driver on the podium at Silverstone for a decade is a very proud moment and hopefully we can build on this when we go to Austria next weekend.”