Chloe King

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Chloe King
Chloe King
Nationality 23px-Flag of the United Kingdom.svg-1-.png British
Born (2001-02-20) 20 February 2001 (age 23)
Dukinfield, Greater Manchester,
United Kingdom
VWRS Series career
Debut season 2022
Current team OSM Racing International
Car no. 1
Starts 48
Championships 0
Wins 5
Podiums 12
Pole positions 2
Fastest laps 3
Previous series
2021 Virtual European Racing Series
2020 Virtual Oceania-Asia Racing Series
Championship titles
2021 Virtual European Racing Series

Chloe King (born 20 February 2001) is a British virtual racing driver. She currently races in the 2024 Virtual World Racing Series for OSM Racing International and is also the reserve driver for Phoenix in Formula Virtual. King is a graduate of Phoenix's Young Driver Academy - The Hive.

Personal life

Chloe King was born on 20 February 2001 in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom to father David and mother Janine, although her parents separated when she was young. She has four sisters, two older; Leanne and Bianca, and two younger; Chantelle and Kayleigh.

King still lives at home in Dukinfield with her mother and two younger sisters.

Career

Early career (2020–present)

King began competitive racing at a late age compared to most, when she was twelve. She initially struggled in the newly formed Virtual North West Regional Karting Championship in a predominantly male environment, as she alluded to in an interview in 2022: "Back when I first started out in karts, in 2013, the world was a very different place to how it is today. I was seen as "weird" for being a girl who raced karts against guys, the odd one out." Eventually, however, after getting to grips with the nature of the sport, King improved quickly and won the Championship in her second season. She remained in the Championship and duly won it in dominant fashion in both 2015 and 2016, before stepping up to the Virtual National Championship for 2017. The national series proved a stern challenge for King at first, with the 16 year old focusing on her GCSEs primarily, which her mother insisted take precedence over karting. The following season, however, everything seemed to come together again for her and she won the championship at the final round. Following the race, she was approached by Phoenix Team Principal Alex Easton - who had been present - and King signed a deal with the Mancunian based team which would allow her to fully focus on her racing career, with the backing of the team.

For 2019, King made the step up to the Virtual British Racing Series. Pole, fastest lap and the race win at the first race of the season set the tone for the year, with King winning the series at the first attempt. The support provided by Phoenix made it possible for her to put everything into her driving, which she said "made all the difference both mentally and financially", where she had previously struggled with the costs of racing.

Virtual Oceania-Asia Racing Series (2020)

At 19 years old, King managed to secure a seat with Higgs Grand Prix to compete in the VOARS. After a solid first race weekend at Adelaide - where she scored points in all three races - King came alive in Japan and took two second places and a victory, with two fastest laps and a pole. Her performance at Suzuka prompted Phoenix to send Deputy Team Principal Christian Sear over to the next race, in China. An unfortunate retirement after a collision with Ethan Knight was followed by a mechanical issue in the second race, and a rather anonymous showing in the final race to come home fourteenth, however, King had already done enough to sufficiently impress Phoenix, and on the 21st June 2020, she was officially signed to their Young Driver Academy. Speaking to FVTV at the next race, in India, King said; "It feels unbelievable to have officially signed with Phoenix to become part of their driver academy. They're literally based fifteen minutes away from my house and they've supported me so much over the last two years." King took two more wins and a further two podiums in the second half of the season on her way to fourth place in the overall standings, as well as taking the Rookie Championship ahead of Zack Drayton and Charyl Ratanarak.

Virtual European Racing Series (2021)

Following King joining the Phoenix Young Driver Academy, Phoenix placed her in the VERS for 2021, where she raced for the prestigious Formation Competition team, where she was teammates with Barney Hoskins. King dominated the season; scoring 282 points to win the title by exactly 100 points from Hoskins. Along the way, she took six victories, two pole positions and nine fastest laps, with Zandvoort being the only circuit that she failed to take at least one win. This title winning season ensured that King would make the step up to the VWRS in 2022.

Virtual World Racing Series (2022-present)

2022

King joined OSM Racing International for the 2022 VWRS season, partnering fellow Hive member Ott Eskola. A podium in the second race at Albert Park, following a seventh place in the opening round, showed plenty of potential despite competing in an incredibly talented field. Wins in both France and Britain followed before a slight mid-season dip in form, specifically in the United States where King failed to pick up a single point all weekend. However, a podium in each of Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and Macau rounded off a solidly impressive debut season in the second tier of Virtual Motorsport, where she won the Rookie Championship along the way, leading to King being retained as the lead driver at OSM Racing International for the following season.

2023

For the 2023 VWRS season, King was joined at OSM Racing International by Barney Hoskins - another member of The Hive. Points across all three races, with one third place, in Australia marked the start of an excellent second season for King in Virtual Motorsport's second tier. She picked up a win, fastest lap and second place in France before a pole position and second place in the first and third races of Britain respectively - the pole in Britain being her only pole of the season.

More solid points followed in Brazil before a disappointing couple of rounds in the United States and Belgium all but ended her chances of catching runaway championship leader, Henri Ruotsalainen. However, King finished the season strongly with two seventh places and a fourth in Abu Dhabi, then a mighty weekend in Macau where she picked up two wins and a twelfth place.

King ultimately ended the season in second place, albeit some way behind Ruotsalainen, on 189 points; three wins and a further three podium finishes ensured she was retained by OSM Racing International for another season.

2024

Formula Virtual (2024–present)

Following King's graduation from The Hive following the 2023 season, she was announced as the reserve driver for Phoenix during the 2024 season where she would share the role with James Thompson. The British team announced that King would have the opportunity to compete in five practice sessions across the season.

Helmet

King races with a predominantly purple helmet, which features a worker bee on the top; an emblem which has become synonymous with Manchester, symbolising the hard work ethic and unity of Mancunians.

Racing record

Career Summary

Season Series Team Name Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2020 VOARS Higgs Grand Prix 18 3 1 6 7 184 4th
2021 VERS Formation Competition 18 6 2 9 11 282 1st
2022 VWRS OSM Racing International 24 2 1 1 6 132 8th
2023 VWRS OSM Racing International 24 3 1 2 6 189 2nd
2024 Formula Virtual Royal Phoenix Motorsport Reserve Driver

* Season in progress.

Complete VOARS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos. Points
2020 Higgs Grand Prix AUS
1
8
AUS
2
5
AUS
3
5
JPN
1

2
JPN
2

1
JPN
3
2
CHN
1
Ret
CHN
2
Ret
CHN
3
14
IND
1

4
IND
2
2
IND
3

1
RUS
1
5
RUS
2
Ret
RUS
3

7
UAE
1
3
UAE
2

1
UAE
3
Ret
4th 184

Complete VERS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos. Points
2021 Formation Competition FRA
1

1
FRA
2
Ret
FRA
3
8
GBR
1
1
GBR
2

1
GBR
3
5
ESP
1

1
ESP
2
2
ESP
3

2
NED
1

4
NED
2
2
NED
3

2
ITA
1

1
ITA
2
2
ITA
3
5
GER
1
5
GER
2
4
GER
3

1
1st 282

Complete VWRS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pos. Points
2022 OSM Racing International AUS
1
7
AUS
2
3
AUS
3
11
FRA
1
15
FRA
2
15
FRA
3
1
GBR
1
8
GBR
2
7
GBR
3
1
BRA
1
Ret
BRA
2
6
BRA
3
6
USA
1
17
USA
2
Ret
USA
3
20
BEL
1
16
BEL
2
10
BEL
3

2
UAE
1
19
UAE
2
11
UAE
3
3
MAC
1
6
MAC
2

2
MAC
3
14
8th 132
2023 OSM Racing International AUS
1
11
AUS
2
4
AUS
3
3
FRA
1

1
FRA
2
7
FRA
3
2
GBR
1

Ret
GBR
2
2
GBR
3
6
BRA
1
4
BRA
2
10
BRA
3
7
USA
1
13
USA
2
6
USA
3
Ret
BEL
1

9
BEL
2
Ret
BEL
3
15
UAE
1
7
UAE
2
4
UAE
3
7
MAC
1
1
MAC
2
12
MAC
3
1
2nd 189

* Season in progress.