George King achieved his pre-weekend aim of clinching a place on the overall podium at the last round of the 2022 Ligier European Series, but had to work extra hard to do so at the Portimao finale.
Without regular co-pilot Ronnie Valori for the Portuguese double-header, King had a chance to wrap up sole possession of third in the final season standings, but knew that he would have to be top form for two entire races distances and hope that the Monza Garage Ligier JS P4 prototype remained competitive throughout. Such has been the #23's consistency across the preceding five rounds, second overall also remained within King's reach, but would have needed a miraculous double victory while his rivals went home pointless.
Determined not to be overhauled for the final step of the championship podium, King started encouragingly, with third on the timesheets in the opening practice session, before taking fifth and fourth spots on the grid in the two qualifying runs later in the day.
With races at either end of Saturday's programme, King approached the compressed schedule the same way as he had every other round. Keen to make the most of the start, he vaulted the black-and-blue #23 from fifth to second place on the run to turn one, only to be pushed back to third, and then fourth, in the typical opening lap skirmishes. The competitive JS P4 field ensured that there was never a quiet moment for the young Briton as he continuously swapped positions with the #3 of Simone Riccitelli before an unfortunate spin cost him vital positions just before the pit-stop window opened.
"I got cut off by a slower JS 2R that I was lapping whilst fighting with Riccitelli, which caused me to spin off," King revealed, having stayed behind the wheel in Valori's absence. "I was fortunate not to hit anything and got back into the race, fighting my way back up to P4. Whether it was down to the spin or not, however, the car felt unstable, and I lost the place to another moment while fighting for position and eventually finished P5."
Frustrated by the outcome of the opening race, King steeled himself for the finale, and again got a flying start to move from fourth to second heading into Turn One. This time, the move stuck and the Briton held onto P2 until the battle in his mirrors eventually caught up with him. A reckless move by the #44 cost King his hard-earned second place, dropping him back into the melee that followed. — and which ultimately contributed to a safety car period that slowed the pace and bunched the field once more.
The race restarted with 14 minutes on the clock, and King made the most of the closely-packed field to gain a position and go on to finish fifth once more.
"I was fuming with the race one result and had to have an hour on my own to cool off, think about the mistakes I'd made and how I could improve," King admitted. "Aiming to do better in race two, I got another unreal start, and stayed in P2 for the majority of the opening stint. However, while defending my position, the car behind tried to out-brake me on the outside and, in cutting across me, hit the front of my car, killing my speed and ruining my positioning, costing me two places.
"Although the cars around me were faster, I kept up with them until the pit-stop, but we began struggling with the set-up and tyre degradation only made the car more unstable and harder to drive. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t hold on the other cars, or match what they could do. I was trying to be super-smooth with the car but, with Portimao being a really tricky track, even little mistakes cost seconds..."
The brace of fifth-place finishes was enough to confirm King third overall in the JS P4 standings at the end of his first truly international sportscar foray, adding to the Gulf Radical Cup title he claimed at the start of the year.
"I think that was one of the hardest weekends of racing yet," he exclaimed. "Driving on my own was strange without Ronnie, but I thought I drove the car to its potential and made the absolute most of what was given to me. However, I made too many mistakes and that cost me better results.
"I've learned a lot, not just this weekend, but over the season as a whole and finishing P3 in my first proper European championship is super cool. It’s the best we could’ve gotten from this season for sure, but I’ve come away from every weekend knowing that I had made the most of it."
