Report – Round 9 – Silverstone (National)
Deagen Fairclough clinched the 2024 British F4 Championship at Silverstone today and achieved a record-breaking 12th win of the season. The West Sussex-based driver dominated both the opening race – to wrap up the drivers’ title – and took another lights-to-flag victory in round 27 to round off a superb weekend. The success is Hitech’s second title in British F4, following in the footsteps of Alex Dunne’s triumph in 2022 – and Deagen also eclipsed Alex’s win record.
“I’m over the moon. I’m so, so grateful to everyone here for the support all season,” said a delighted Deagen. “Every member of the Hitech team has worked so hard and this all goes to them. I’m honestly so grateful and really happy to win this championship a round early.”
“This means so much to my family,” added Deagen after winning the title with his 11th win on Saturday. “I’ve been racing since I was five years old, just me, my Mum and my Dad. We’ve been scraping every penny together to go and have some fun and pursue my career. We’ve come a long way as a family, with a lot of difficulties. Everyone knows how hard racing is financially and the simulator racing competition came along at the right time.
“I actually struggled to sleep last night because I was so full of excitement, planning every single scenario with what could happen during the race or qualifying. The good and the bad, and everything has aligned today. This win is to every single person – and ROKiT – who has helped me get here today. A lot of emotions. I did a lot of shouting when I crossed the line, so my throat hurts a little. I’m insanely happy!”
The Silverstone weekend began with Deagen’s sixth C1RCUIT Watches Pole Position Award and despite a brief shower of rain prior to the formation lap, Deagen led away from the start and dominated the race, building out an advantage of over eight seconds at the chequered flag.
Behind Deagen, Reza Seewooruthun also enjoyed an excellent opening race at our home circuit. From tenth on the grid the British driver climbed through the field – Including a great move around the outside of Brooklands – to claim the final spot on the podium. He nearly netted second with a drag to the line, just missing out by 0.047s.
Reza followed up his excellent performance in race one with victory in a shortened race two on Sunday morning. Rookie Thomas Bearman had qualified for us on reserve grid pole, but an early-morning downpour led to very poor conditions with a lot of surface water on the Silverstone National track. After stalling at the start, he was unfortunately hit from behind and the race red-flagged and postponed in the deteriorating conditions. In the meantime, the team worked feverishly in a bid to prepare his car for race three and the possibility of a rescheduled race two at the end of the day, but the scale of the task was too great in the time available and race two was subsequently cancelled.
With the track still wet, but starting to dry, race three started behind the Safety Car. From pole, Deagen made another strong start and quickly built up an advantage, finding the grip on the tricky surface. His record-breaking 12th win of the season was another masterclass from the 18-year-old. Meanwhile Reza enjoyed a spirited race to advance from 11th on the grid to finish sixth at the flag.
The Drivers’ Championship has been decided, but there’s still one title left to fight for. Hitech Pulse-Eight leads the Teams’ Standings by 31.5 points with one round of three races yet to come. One last push in the season finale at Brands Hatch on 05-06 October.
