Deagen Fairclough heads to Brands Hatch this weekend looking to build on his points lead at the top of the British Formula 4 Championship. The British ace took a superb victory in the opening round of the season at Donington Park last time out and followed that up with an impressive drive from ninth on the grid to second place in race two. Running just behind Mika Abrahams, it gave the team a brilliant 1-2 finish to put Hitech GP 11 points clear of the opposition in the teams’ standings.
Looking ahead to this weekend, the 1.2-mile Indy layout at Brands Hatch is a different proposition to Donington Park, as its short, technical configuration traditionally means the gaps between drivers’ lap times are very small – often split by just thousandths of a second. And with it being difficult to overtake at the tight Kent circuit, qualifying will be particularly critical this coming weekend (May 11-12).
Located near West Kingsdown, the former British Grand Prix track features some of the most famous corners in UK motorsport – including the sweeping right-hander Paddock Hill Bend and the uphill, tight hairpin Druids. The latter is the only realistic passing opportunity on the lap, but drivers will need to be brave on the brakes if they want to overtake a rival in front.
After taking his maiden win last time out at Donington Park, Mika is looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of his F4 machine. “It was amazing to get that first victory under my belt – the car was just perfect,” said the South African. “I know that Brands Hatch will be quite a different challenge, but it’s a circuit I really enjoy driving so I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead.”
After his triumph in the second of the two Donington Park races held (the third was postponed due to bad weather) Mika sits fourth in the drivers’ standings while three places behind him in seventh is Reza Seewooruthun, who scored ten points a fortnight ago. At the top of the championship is Deagan – 13 points clear of his rivals.
“After such a strong start to the year, I’m really excited to see how we perform on a different type of track,” said Deagen. “Brands is such a fun circuit and I’ll be maximising the most out of the car to build on the points lead we already have. Qualifying will be key as I don’t know how easy it will be come through the field, especially in the reverse grid race, but I’ll be giving it my all.”
The first British F4 race of the weekend takes place on Saturday at 4.35pm while the other two races supporting the British Touring Car Championship on Sunday are at 11am and 3.45pm.
