George King returned to Ultimate Cup Series for the first time since winning the 2023 title, but left round two at Portimao in Portugal empty-handed after an eventful weekend.
The Briton faced an entirely different scenario on his UCS return, joining the renowned Graff Racing operation as a mentor to less experienced team-mates in the rebranded European Endurance Prototype Cup. Although the team's Ligier JS P320 would be familiar, having driven one to the 2023 crown with Team Virage, King knew that he would be leading the line-up against vastly more seasoned crews in the multi-class competition.
Arriving at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve a full week ahead of the event, the 23-year-old quickly saw progress in the development of bronze-rated team-mate Haowen Luo, as the Chinese driver gained almost six seconds a lap under his tutelage, before finally being able to get behind the wheel for himself during Thursday's test session. By chipping away at the car's set-up, King was eventually able to post the fifth-best time amongst the 32 entrants during the following day's first official practice session, despite not pursuing a simulated qualifying run.
With Luo and third driver Samir Ben continuing to gain experience of both the car and circuit through Saturday's second session, King had to wait before bolting on fresh tyres for the first time but, despite only getting two clear laps of the 2.9-mile Portimao layout when the rubber was past its peak, still posted the third fastest time of the morning.
"It was really encouraging to be able to post that sort of time," King noted ahead of qualifying. "There was a lot of traffic towards the end of the session as just about everyone seemed to be chasing their qualifying set-up, so to wind up just a couple of tenths off the fastest lap of the session — especially considering that the tyres were past their best due to the level of degradation at this track — suggested we had a competitive car."
The team's optimism came to an abrupt halt, however, as the afternoon's qualifying session presented nothing but misfortune to each of the three drivers. First, Luo found himself stuck behind a slower car for most of his run, preventing him from matching his earlier times, then Ben was stymied by a series of red flag interruptions that riddled Q2, denying him the chance to set any sort of representative lap. Worse still, as the Swiss pilot was waiting to go out for a final run, a small fire appeared on the #2 machine, forcing it back to the garage — and ending its session before King had so much as climbed into the cockpit.
Saturday's frustration meant that, instead of potentially lining up at the front of the field, the Graff entry would start 32nd and last, forcing the team into a tactical rethink. Where one of the less experienced drivers may have taken the start, King would now be first behind the wheel in an effort to reclaim as much ground as possible before handing over to Ben and Luo. With six hours stretching ahead of them, the crew knew that there was time for a lot to change before the chequered flag, but the ploy began paying off almost immediately as King propelled the blue-and-black machine into the top ten within an hour.
"It was super fun making my way through all of the traffic and fighting through the little groups that had formed," the Briton smiled, "but some of the driving standards were insanely poor out there. I got hit three different times during the race — and twice by the same driver! Even with an ample amount of room, one still locked up and side-swiped me about a mile away from the apex. Fortunately, I got away without any damage on that occasion but, next time around, while making my way past another incident, I got tipped into a spin by a car that decided not to brake sufficiently. Somehow, I only lost two places, but it cost us some bodywork."
After repairs, Luo and Ben both drove well through their respective runs, although some bad luck with safety car interventions meant that further positions were lost before King retook the wheel for the final stint. The race had also been stopped for a couple of hours to clear up after an accident, and the Briton found track conditions very different to those at the start of the event. The third and final incident of his race cost the #2 another piece of bodywork but, despite also having to save fuel in the second half of his stint, King eventually brought the Graff car home a respectable seventh in the LMP3 class.
"I still managed to have fun, making up a few places and even unlapping ourselves against a few cars," he recounted. "I was one of the fastest drivers on the track in the last hour — even though track conditions had changed massively from my morning stint, which made the car very hard to control — and that's encouraging in itself.
"Overall, I'm very happy with my performance throughout the weekend, both from consistently being one of the fastest drivers and also by furthering my engineering knowledge. It was great working with a team of Graff's reputation and getting back behind the wheel to shake the rust off, even if it was very much a last-minute call-up and a one-off appearance for now. It's good to keep my name out there, and I'm hoping the right people saw my performance and noted it."
With his driver coach, James Winslow, finishing second overall and winning the NP02 class for Graff, King will be hoping that it isn't too long before he can be back chasing honours on a regular basis, as he continues to explore opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic for 2024 and beyond.
