There’s no rest for our British Formula 4 team as immediately after leaving Thruxton last Sunday evening, we’ve travelled 80 miles north to the home of British motor sport – Silverstone. Our home race is also one of our favourites and heading to the Formula 1 track is the newest winner in British F4, Reza Seewooruthun, who is still smiling from his race three triumph on Sunday.
His victory, sadly, came at the expense of Deagen Fairclough who was set for a commanding win at the high-speed Hampshire speed bowl until an unexpected mechanical issue forced his retirement. Despite the team not achieving a 1-2 finish, Deagen’s race one win at Thruxton ensures he heads to Silverstone still in the lead of the British F4 standings – 30 points clear of second place.
“It was a weekend of mixed emotions at Thruxton,” said Deagen. “Saturday was perfect, scoring a double pole and victory in race one. And after a strong reverse race where we avoided the mayhem on track to finish fifth after starting 12th, it was a disappointing end to retire while leading the final race. In some ways, it’s great that we’re immediately back out on track less than a week later, as we can focus on building our points lead at Silverstone.”
Silverstone has a special place on the calendar and as well as being a high-speed challenge, it has a rich history of hosting motor sport for over 75 years. For aspiring young drivers in particular, this weekend marks the first of two Formula 1 tracks on the schedule (with an overseas trip to Zandvoort next month).
After scoring his first win at Thruxton, Reza is especially excited to get back on track and is looking forward to getting to grips with the legendary Silverstone layout. “It was amazing to get that first win under my belt,” said Reza. “It was particularly special for me as Thruxton is my home race and I had a lot of friends, family and sponsors there to support me – and to celebrate my success. The win has given me a lot of confidence, and I have to thank the whole Hitech GP team for their support too. I can’t wait to be back behind the wheel again this weekend.”
Sitting one place behind Reza in the points standings in seventh, Mika Abrahams also finished on the podium at Thruxton (second in race two) and he’s excited about getting more experience of top-line international circuits. “It’s really important for our future careers to have knowledge of a Grand Prix track like Silverstone and our next race in Zandvoort.” said Mika. “At some stage, as we progress up the single-seater ladder, we’ll return to these venues when we compete at an international level, so I’m excited about mastering the famous high-speed turns of Copse, Stowe and the Maggots/Becketts sequence.”
We take a short break from our TOCA friends to compete on a BARC-run weekend at Silverstone, but our timetable follows the usual format. Race one will be at 1.30pm on Saturday followed by two races on Sunday at 11.15 and 3.40pm respectively.
