George King claimed his first major motorsport title at the weekend as his early dominance of the Gulf Radical Cup paid off at the final round in Dubai.
The rising British talent carried an impressive 73-point lead into the final leg of the winter series but. with double points on offer in Dubai, and four sprint races plus an enduro on the slate after the cancellation of round seven in Qatar, the title was far from certain. With only Team JWR team-mate Ian Loggie a viable threat, however, King knew that he basically just needed to shadow the Scot in each outing and pray that his Radical SR3 XX remain reliable.
It was Loggie who claimed first blood by setting the pace in Saturday's sprint race qualifying session, but King was only a matter of tenths adrift, setting the scene perfectly for the championship battle to come. Despite knowing what he needed to do to secure the title, it was King who seized the lead as race one got underway, but the youngster would be foiled by an early safety car that prevented him from building a lead and, ultimately, allowed Loggie to pounce for top spot on lap eight. The pair than ran nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, with King adding yet another podium to his already impressive haul.
Race two followed shortly after the podium ceremony and again the safety car made an early appearance to clear up an opening lap accident. When racing resumed, King was in third, behind Loggie and Jacopo Mazza, but ensured that he brought the yellow #14 machine home on the podium to take another step towards his season's goal, even if his team-mate remained in contention going into day two.
With another brace of sprint events and the season-ending endurance race still to go, there remained little room for error, and King started the final day of the campaign in the best way possible, clinching the opening pole position with an impressive record-breaking lap in 1min 39.437secs, and only trailed Loggie by 0.001secs when it came to determining the starting order for race two!
The first event saw Loggie seize the lead from the outside of the front row, with King again slotting in behind his team-mate and seeming content to limit his championship gains. With neither man making a mistake over the course of the 25-minute race distance, they crossed the line in close formation to claim yet more silverware for Team JWR. King, however, was without a win from the round and keen to exploit any opportunity to rediscover the top step of a podium he graced so regularly at the start of the season.
When that chance came, it was in unexpected — and hard-earned — circumstances, as contact at the start of race four shuffled the front of the pack and left King with work to do from fourth place. Showing the sort of pace that he has exhibited throughout the series, however, the Briton quickly regained top spot and began to pull away from the pack, taking advantage of the fact that his main rival was mired behind his rivals. Aware that there may be a penalty looming from the opening lap incident, King put the pedal down and had extended his lead to nearly 25 seconds when the rare punishment was handed down, more than enough to absorb the blow and still take the win.
With one hand and a fair few fingertips on the championship trophy, King knew that he just had to let the final race play out around him, but grabbed the early lead regardless — only for the safety car to again thwart any chance of him breaking away. With Loggie slowing with an air compressor failure almost as soon as the majority of the pack rejoined from their mandatory pit-stops, and then crawling back to the pits with the train not permitted to pass him, late-stoppers Mohammad Alkazemi and Alex Bukh seized the opportunity to pit and resume at the front of the field. When King subsequently retired the #14 car with an air compressor failure of his own, a different winner was guaranteed, but the title was already destined for the UK.
"It feels a bit unreal to be a champion so early in my career," admitted King, who only started racing Mazda MX-5s in his homeland little over a year ago. "It's been an amazing winter season, with an outcome I could only dream of.
"Conditions were hard out there this weekend, with higher temperatures than we have had of late and Ian [Loggie] fighting me all the way to the final race. It was a shame that we both retired from the enduro, but we had some good battles on track before that. It was great to add more podiums to my record, which ensured that I set new marks for both the number of wins and points scored in a single GRC campaign, and a new lap record was the icing on a very successful weekend."
With the Gulf Radical Cup safely stowed in his hand luggage, King will return to Europe for the summer season, where he is set to join the Ligier European Series, racing a Ligier JS P4 sports prototype for reigning champion team Monza Garage.
