George King was cruelly denied a return to the famous Le Mans podium in round two of the 2023 Ligier European Series (LES), having looked on course for victory throughout the weekend.
Running as part of the official test day for the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours, the LES contest handed King a second outing on the full 8.4-mile Circuit de la Sarthe road course and, having claimed a last-gasp podium in the 2022 race, the Briton was confident that, along with Team Virage co-driver Bernardo Pinheiro, another top three would be the least of his aspirations.
With practice for the forthcoming 24 Hours dominating the timetable, the LES field was running to a very tight schedule, with only a single practice session, qualifying and race, which made it harder for King and Pinheiro to try new things with the set-up of the #60 Team Virage Ligier JSP4. With Le Mans newcomer Pinheiro being given most of the running in practice in order to build up his familiarity with the circuit, King's only track time before qualifying was to have come in the closing minutes of the session — and he duly lost that opportunity to a red flag which curtailed proceedings.
Despite the lack of running, however, King underlined his latent ability by putting the #60 machine on the front row for Sunday's race, holding pole position for much of the session until, ironically, his driving coach James Winslow — making a one-off appearance in the series — snatched top spot in the final moments.
"The last laps decided the order of the front row as James pipped me by a couple of tenths," King noted. "I slid wide on the exit of the Dunlop Chicane on my last lap, which resulted in a track limits penalty that prevented me from reclaiming pole, even though the lap was a few tenths quicker than James had managed. I was still super happy with the time, especially given that the team and I opted to stay on the same set of tyres that had already done 50 minutes on track in practice, in order to save our new set for the race.
"I got onto pace on the second lap, setting the fastest time, although I didn't know it at the time as neither the lap timer or delta was working in the cockpit, and radio communication at Le Mans is tricky at best, which meant I couldn’t hear the team telling me what times I was doing and which sectors I was losing time in."
The 22-year-old was back behind the wheel for the first stint of the race, lining up alongside his mentor before vaulting away at the start to take a lead that only succumbed to the massive slipstream effect of the long Mulsanne Straight. Despite dropping to third as the tow took its toll with the field so closely packed, the #60 was promoted back to second position before the end of the lap and, with a gap now opening to the cars behind, King was able to home in on Winslow once again, setting the fastest lap of the race before eventually retaking the lead at the Dunlop Chicane.
Any hope of pulling away from his friend and rival was dashed, however, when the safety car made an untimely appearance and, with his radio still not working properly, prompted a make-or-break moment that would influence the outcome of the race for King and the #60 team.
"I had no idea if the pit window was open and whether I should box or not," the Briton explained. "The safety car was going so slowly that, if I missed the opportunity to stop and everyone else pitted, we would come out dead last after the stops played out. Thankfully, the radio crackled the words “box, box” a few corners before the pit-lane entrance and I was able to come in — with every other car also boxing at the same time."
With the mandatory driver change executed during the stop, Pinheiro exited the pits P4 overall and P2 in the JSP4 class, with teams running Am Class drivers taking advantage of having to serve less time in the pits. The Portuguese driver was soon on the move, however, battling Simone Riccitelli as the pair hunted down class leader Kevin Madsen, the American leading at the wheel of one of the other Virage cars. The slipstreaming battle would unfortunately prove the undoing of King's race though as, while making a move for first place, Pinheiro's car was clipped by that of Riccitelli, who moved slightly before braking, resulting in a slash to the wall of the right rear tyre that subsequently spun the #60 into retirement.
"Whilst I’m very happy with the job I did, it sucks to lose out to something that was completely out of my control," King sighed. "It's even tougher to take when we know we could — and should — have won! Recording the fastest lap of the race is small consolation.
"Although our team-mate, and current championship leader, Mihnea Stefan also had a horrible race after picking up a drive-through penalty after taking the lead when Bernardo spun out, this result makes our championship chase very hard as we have to claw back lost points."
King, who sits fourth in the latest overall standings with four rounds to run, will be back in action in the Ligier European Series at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France, over the weekend of 14-15 July.
