Having dominated each of the opening three rounds, recording a clean sweep of victories to seize a commanding points advantage, the Briton arrived back in Dubai as the man to beat and duly helped his Team JWR squad to set the pace in Friday's free practice session. He also appeared on course for another brace of pole positions until the dying moments of Saturday's sprint race qualifying session, but being overhauled by one of his rivals proved to be the least of King's worries as his bright yellow SR3 XX stopped on track before he could make it back to pit-lane.

With a short turnaround between qualifying and the first of the day's two sprint races, the Team JWR mechanics were unable to solve the issue that had halted the #14 machine, leaving King a frustrated spectator instead of being able to take up his front row grid slot and prevent eventual winner — and Team JWR team-mate — Ian Loggie from making inroads into his championship lead.

Sterling work by his crew ensured that, when the second race of the day rolled around two hours later, King was able to take his place on the grid and, at the rolling start, he showed there was little wrong with his spare engine by jumping polesitter Alex Bukhantsov and assuming his almost customary spot at the front of the field. Buoyed by his race one success, Loggie wasn't about to let his young team-mate run and hide, however, and continued to apply pressure to the leader throughout, eventually sneaking through into the lead after racing side-by-side through turns 14-16.

Having had to settle for the second step of the podium, King was determined to turn the tables in Sunday's endurance race but, incredibly, had to battle further engine woes in qualifying. With the team working to put things right, the youngster only emerged from the pits with six minutes remaining and, having to warm up both his car and tyres and bed in new brake pads, was limited in the number of laps he had to post a competitive time. Showing both competitive spirit and his prowess behind the wheel, however, he grabbed his ninth pole of the season with the very last lap of the session, out-qualifying Loggie by just 0.016secs.

With the advantage of heading the field to the green light, King converted his hard-earned pole into the lead, and continued to run out front until the pit window loomed. However, as Loggie and Bukhantsov continued to prove more competitive than ever, the #14 was unable to pull away and, with a 15-second 'success penalty' for winning the same race in round three to add to his routine stop, King knew that it would be impossible for him to retain the lead by the time everyone had pitted.

As expected, the Essex native rejoined in third place but, with team-mate Loggie picking up a drive-through penalty for leaving his stop too late to make the specified window, found himself chasing down Bukhantsov for the lead. Although he made gains before the chequered flag, King's time penalty ultimately proved the difference between the two drivers, as the Briton flashed across the line still adrift of his Russian rival

"Well, they do say that, when you’re at the top, the only way you can go is down," King reflected after the weekend. "Obviously, this was a very different weekend to the previous three in terms of where we finished, but I'm still happy with the results given what was thrown at us. The effort the team put into getting me out into the various sessions after the gremlins I had was amazing and I hope two podiums is suitable reward.

"Hopefully, all our problems have come at once and the remaining rounds will be trouble-free. I still have a decent lead in the championship, but it's clear that Ian and Alex are not going let me off lightly. I'm gutted I couldn't hold Ian off a little longer in race two as that would have given me at least one win from the weekend, as winning the endurance race was always going to be a tough proposition, despite the fact that we pitted at the perfect time and had a faultless stop. At least, now, I won't have that same penalty next time!"

King carries a 94-point lead into round five of the series, which takes place at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit over the weekend of 26-27 February.