A massive thank you to Kartlink for the in-depth report from Europe.

Jordan King travelled to the final round of the Spanish Karting Championship having to get to grips with a new kart, new team, new class, new tyres, new track and a whole new level of grip – and still came away with a brace of podium finishes for his efforts.

The young Harbury ace plans to compete in KF3 in Europe next year, and running with JRP on a Maranello mount for the first time at Zaragoza, he admitted his maiden Spanish appearance was a ‘big learning curve’.

With just three days’ testing and one race meeting – which he had won, albeit on a different chassis – under his belt prior to his outing at Zuera, Jordan languished some two seconds off the pace to begin with as the grip levels in particular, he confessed, took him somewhat by surprise…

“We were just hoping to have a good weekend, learn a lot and get to know JRP,” he explained. “KF3 has a lot more power and is a lot faster than Mini Max – which is always good – but it’s outrageous how much more grip there is in Europe. You really don’t realise that before you go out there.

“When the rubber goes down it’s so difficult; the way you have to drive is so different to how you would at home. You think you are going to have to brake and turn into the corners quite early, but you can go in really deep and it just grips and allows you to get on the power and accelerate out again so quickly. You’ve just got to have faith in the level of grip there is. It does catch you out at first.”

Be that as it may, a stellar effort in timed qualifying saw Jordan position himself third amongst a bumper 28-kart field, a scant five hundredths of a second adrift of pole and clearly enjoying a circuit whose average speed in KF3 is an impressive 65mph.

“I like Zuera,” the 14-year-old enthused. “It’s a good drivers’ track, fast and flowing, and the kind of place where each lap you do you go faster and faster. It’s certainly quick; it’s a mile long and we were lapping it in just over a minute, so at an average speed of about 65mph. You have to be right on the edge every single lap.”

Following a solid fourth place in the opening heat as he played things safe, the pole-sitter hitting the brakes early into first corner in heat two caught Jordan out and he locked up, shooting off the track and rejoining a long way behind the pack in last place. Undeterred, he scythed his way back through the field into seventh spot at the close, setting the race’s fastest lap along the way as he closed right onto the rear of the leading group again by the chequered flag.

“I was frustrated at having gone off because it was my mistake,” he rued, “but it was a lot of fun coming back through the pack, and it proved I had the racecraft to do it. Without what had happened at the start I could definitely have won.”

Those results placed the Super 1 Mini Max Vice-Champion fourth on the grid for the pre-final, behind only the leading three contenders for the Spanish laurels. After running second early on he went on to take the flag a comfortable third, before briefly snatching the lead in the all-important grand final on the opening lap, ultimately cementing his burgeoning reputation with a strong run to the bottom step of the rostrum behind the eventual champion and runner-up, just a second shy of victory.

Thanking JRP team principal Mark Berryman and his mechanic Stuart Wright for their hard work, Jordan’s performance certainly fired a warning shot for 2009, as he had proven to be as quick as – and on occasion even quicker than – those who knew both the series and the circuit like the back of their hand.

“I was a little bit disappointed because I probably could have won if I had been just a tiny bit more consistent – and second place was definitely on the cards – but overall I was very happy,” he concluded. “Our aim had been to get within four tenths of the quickest time and we were fastest for some of the meeting. That was very good, and it was pleasing to get on the podium for my first time racing in a European championship too.”

A toe-in-the-water exercise for next season it may have been, but Jordan certainly made a splash.

After finishing a respectable 6th in Stars of Tomorrow 2008, Jordan King is to step up to the KF3 series next year.