IndyCar: Get to know Ed Carpenter Racing’s Jordan King
By Kevin Nguyen
Ed Carpenter Racing’s newest driver Jordan King is a relative unknown to IndyCar. Get to know 23-year-old British driver Jordan King.
Team owner Ed Carpenter of Ed Carpenter Racing decided to go international to find his IndyCar street/road course partner for the 2018 season.
He decided on a 23-year-old Briton, Jordan King. Who is this relative unknown to IndyCar fans, stateside? Let’s get to know Ed Carpenter Racing’s Jordan King.
King is the son of Justin King, former CEO of Sainsbury’s, a British supermarket chain. The younger King began his racing career in karts before moving on to single-seaters in 2010.
Junior Career Summary
King’s junior career highlights include competing in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship in 2012, where he competed against former A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver Conor Daly. Ultimately, he finished second to Daly in the championship.
Also in 2012, the youngster from Warwick joined Formula Renault with Manor MP Motorsport. It is his connection with Manor that led to a Formula 1 development driver role in 2015 and 2016 for him. The notable competition included current McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne. King finished second in the championship.
In 2013, King joined Carlin in European Formula 3 and British Formula 3. In European F3, King raced against the son of 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. While competing in British F3, he ran against current Chip Ganassi Racing driver Ed Jones. King won the 2013 British Formula 3 championship.
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From 2015 to 2016, King competed in GP2, which is now known as Formula 2. In GP2, King was teammates with current Andretti Autosport driver and 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi. Prior to signing with ECR, King sought Rossi’s advice on a potential move to IndyCar.
In addition, King also served as Manor F1’s development driver. He participated in the 2015 F1 Young Drivers Test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi and the 2016 Barcelona test at Circuit de Catalunya as well as practice at Circuit of the Americas for the 2016 United States Grand Prix.
IndyCar
With his signing with ECR, King has 11 races to prove his future is in IndyCar. Unlike with Esteban Gutierrez’s substitute signing with Dale Coyne Racing last year, King will not have to worry about ovals. With Carlin now being a full-time IndyCar team and King’s connection and success with the team in British F3, it could potentially land him a full-time ride with the team in the future.
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For the most part, with King’s familiarity with drivers Rossi, Jones, and Daly, with Daly still in search of a 2018 IndyCar drive, and racing team Carlin, it appears King was bound to end up in IndyCar. We’ll see how he performs.