2017 Driver Ratings School Report: Harry King

Year: Second

Team: Elite Motorsport

TERM ONE

Grade: C-

Comment: After showing promise in his rookie year in the Ginetta Junior championship, King struggled to stay at the sharp end of the order in the first half of 2017. The Elite Motorsport driver claimed second in the opening round at Brands Hatch, but couldn’t match that performance until the second half of the season. He took another podium at Thruxton, but could only manage top five finishes in five of the 12 races before the summer break.

TERM TWO

Grade: B-

Comment: King returned to the promise he’d shown in 2016 in the second half of the season, claiming his first victory of the year at Knockhill. Though a handful of results at the tail end of the order did sneak into the second half, most of his results were at the sharp end of the field. King rounded off the year with a six-race-long streak of podiums which put him sixth in the championship standings.

Overall Grade: C

Best moment of the season: Starting third on the grid at Knockhill, King immedietly joined the fight for the lead. Despite a small mistake on the second lap, King was keen for a top result and, with risky move after risky move, he pushed his way up to the lead before the midpoint of the race. As soon as he was ahead, King pulled away from second and started to build up a gap. He finished the race nearly three seconds ahead of Kiren Jewiss in second.

Worst moment of the season: In the closing stages of the first race at Oulton Park, an electrical problem started to show itself in King’s Ginetta. He managed to finish the race seventh and Elite Motorsport set about resolving the problem before the final race of the weekend. Starting 13^th for race two, King managed to work his way up to sixth before the problem appeared to return midway through the race. He was forced to pull over to the side of the track, taking his first retirement of the year after an impressive battle in the mid-pack.

Feature credit: Caroline Rhea