George King will continue to prove his adaptability in 2025, having inked a deal to contest the entire GTWC Australia powered by AWS season with Tigani Motorsport.
Having primarily campaigned sports prototype machinery through his successful career to date, the 24-year-old Briton will share the #44 Pro-Am class Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo alongside promising Australian talent Sergio Pires under the Geyer Valmont Racing banner. While Pires was finished off his 2024 campaign with a clean-sweep of the Am class at Bathurst, King was looking for an option to continue his career beyond the European Endurance Prototype Cup, having claimed the title in 2023. Occasional GT outings in the Middle East have underlined the Essex native’s ability to switch between categories, and his record of success was enough to persuade team owner Nathan Tigani to pair him with Pires for the coming season.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while, but it’s good to have a second Pro-Am entry, and this will now springboard our programme to the next level and be competitive week-in, week-out," Tigani explained. "We floated the idea of putting Sergio in with a Pro driver as he has improved leaps and bounds the last 12 months, so the thought was to find someone capable of winning races outright. We spoke to Matt Harvey, the engineer on [our other] car and he floated a young guy he used to work with back in Dubai by the name of George King. We got talking to him and, from there, we told him our ambitions, which led to us getting him across the line."
For King, the promise of a season of confirmed competition comes as reward for his patience in 2024, where he performed ‘supersub’ duties for two teams in the Ultimate Cup Series-run EEPC while seeking a full-time drive. Since making his circuit racing debut following the global pandemic in 2021, the Briton has enjoyed success in prototypes, adding the EEPC title to the 2021-22 Gulf Radical Cup crown and race-winning performances across multiple seasons in the Ligier European Series. His most recent outing also appeared to be headed for a podium, before a mechanical failure sidelined his GT4 entry in January’s Dubai 24 Hours.
“I’m super excited to be racing in Australia,” King noted. “To be driving with Sergio, and in a team like Tigani Motorsport, is a great opportunity. My first full season in a GT3 car, racing against some of the best drivers in the game, will be a chance to learn and progress my knowledge to become a better overall driver. My four years, predominantly in prototypes, have given me a whole toolbox to use in adapting my style to new cars whenever needed.
“I’ve raced in the Dubai 24 Hour four times, in both GT4 and GT3, so I'm no stranger to the category. In the Porsche GT3 991.2, I led the race for a few hours and, most recently, in a BMW GT4, we were leading the race for 12 hours before an unfortunate DNF, so I would love to get some wins, podiums and potentially fight for the championship with Sergio and the Tigani team.”
The team returns to Mercedes machinery after several seasons campaigning a rival marque, but Tigani is optimistic that his new combination can become frontrunners despite the obvious competitiveness of the GTWC Australia field.
“Switching back to the Mercedes-AMG will be a bit of a challenge but, last year, we had one of the fastest cars at times throughout the year, and putting that knowledge and know-how into another entry will build both efforts to be better," he concluded. “We’ve been lucky enough to surround ourselves with some really good people in the crew and partnering Sergio with George will propel him to being one of the quickest Bronze drivers in the country. To be able to add to that in pursuit of more trophies is the end goal for us.”
The 2025 GTWC Australia season starts at the Phillip Island circuit near Melbourne over the weekend of 4-6 April and comprises six rounds, culminating at Hampton Downs in New Zealand in early November.
