GEORGE King made a flying start to his first season in the Gulf Radical Championship, winning all three races from pole position on his debut at the Dubai Autodrome.

The Benfleet based King had little more than a single year of racing Mazda's venerable MX-5 under his belt before being hand-picked by Le Mans 24 Hours veteran and multiple single-seater champion James Winslow for the winter season in the UAE.

And he stunned series officials and regulars alike by immediately finding his feet in the Team JWR SR3 XX on the second day of pre-season testing and then carrying similar pace into his first ever 'slicks-and-wings' race weekend.

With just a single 20-minute qualifying session to post times and set the grids for the two 'sprint' races that would kick off proceedings, King could have been under pressure to perform.

But showed no sign of nerves as he blasted his way to pole position for both, edging team-mate Ian Loggie for fastest time overall by just 0.169secs.

Having capitalised in qualifying, King then made a great start to the opening race, leading the closely-matched field into turn one.

But he was unable to build a lead as the safety car came out almost immediately to clear up the aftermath of a first lap accident back in the pack.

King was forced to stare at the back of the pace car for nearly 12 minutes before eventually being unleashed, but he made no mistake at the restart, retaining his lead and leading Loggie over the line to take victory on both his series and sportscar category debut.

Clearly buoyed by his victory, it was King again who aced the start in race two and, without interruption, was this time able to claim victory by nearly 11 seconds over Johnny Khazzoum, posting fastest lap of the race for good measure, just as he had done in the opening event.

Day two bought an altogether different challenge, with an endurance race to follow Friday's sprints.

Again, King took pole position, this time edging out Loggie by a scant 0.082secs, posting his time early in the session before yellow flags placed a speed restriction on anyone hoping to improve.

Confident that he could pace the longer race, with endurance experience gleaned alongside team boss James Winslow at last year's Dubai 24 Hours, King seized the early advantage, allowing bis pursuers to battle amongst themselves as he pulled clear.

He remained in front through the mandatory pit-stops and was cruising to victory when red flags brought the event to a premature close a lap from home.

Nevertheless, with a clean sweep of the weekend's wins, King ended the round with a handy 22-point lead in the title race.

"I only started racing last September in the Mazda MX-5 Championship in England, so this is a little unbelievable," said King.

"Having finished on the podium at last year's Dubai 24 Hours with James, and then got a full season of Mazdas under my belt in 2021, he asked if I'd like to contest the Gulf Radical Cup.

Three wins, three poles and three fastest laps from the opening round is a dream start, especially going up against seasoned racers like British GT champion Ian Loggie and the local Radical experts.

"Thanks to my sponsors Goldcrest Oil and BCG Investments, to Team JWR and the Gulf Radical Cup for this opportunity."

The Gulf Radical Cup will return for its second round on Dubai Autodrome's Grand Prix layout over the weekend of 16-18 December.