Stunning recovery drive keeps Harry King’s title hopes alive
Rising star Harry King produced an astonishing recovery drive at Zandvoort to ensure that he remains in contention for the Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup title heading into the season finale at Monza next weekend.
The Briton had closed the gap on defending champion Larry ten Voorde to seven points after outscoring his rival in the previous two races in Hungary and Belgium, which included a stunning win at the Hungaroring.
The Dutch weekend started in positive fashion for Harry as he posted the third quickest time at the wheel of his BWT Lechner Racing-run car, but qualifying in mixed weather conditions would prove to be a challenge.
Rain before the start impacted on proceedings as did two red flag stoppages, with the battle for pole on a drying circuit ultimately coming down to the final laps. Ten Voorde was able to get his lap in to go quickest but Harry - who had been right in the mix for pole in the wet - would have to settle for ninth after his final run.
Aware of the need to fight his way forwards in the race, Harry got away well from the line and quickly jumped up into eighth place before a hard but fair battle with Mathys Jaubert saw Harry climb into seventh just before the safety car was deployed to allow a car to be recovered from the gravel.
Harry wasted little time in despatching Kas Haverkort on the restart to move into the top six and then followed team-mate Robert de Haan past the car of title rival Marvin Klein to grab fifth spot.
A second safety car period would back up the field after an off for Niels Troost with Harry trying to gain further ground on the closing stages, although he would ultimately have to settle for fifth spot - still an impressive result at one of the most difficult circuits on the schedule on which to overtake.
With just the final round in Italy still to run, Harry sits second behind ten Voorde in the standings and will go into the weekend knowing he has to win to try and secure the crown for the first time.
“Qualifying wasn’t the result we were hoping for given the pace we knew was in the car, and it meant that I had a hard job ahead of me in the race,” he said.
“Zandvoort is such a difficult circuit for overtaking, particularly in these cars, so the fact that we were able to come through to fifth place was something that I was really pleased with and I’m actually really proud of the performance despite the fact that it certainly isn’t the result I was hoping for coming into the weekend.
“We’ve shown once again that we have fantastic pace and it means we are still alive in the title race, even though I know I’m going to be the outsider when we get to Monza. There is absolutely no pressure on me, so my focus is simply on giving my all and going for the win. If I can do that, then who knows what will happen in the championship.”