It was a weekend of contrasts at Thruxton, with Deagen Fairclough claiming his fourth British Formula 4 victory of the year. And at his local circuit, Reza Seewooruthun won his first race in British F4, but the triumph came after Deagen sadly retired from race three with a mechanical issue while leading.
“I’m very happy to take the win,” said Reza, who drove a great race that included a double-pass to go from fourth to second at the high-speed Thruxton circuit. “It’s not the circumstances that I want to take the win, but I knew it was going to be a battle and the key was to keep it clean.
“This is my home race and I’ve had a lot of support here,” added Reza, who finished in P1 as the race finished behind the Safety Car. “Lots of family, friends and sponsors were at Thruxton so it was great to take home the winners’ trophy and I’m planning to carry this momentum into Hitech GP’s home race at Silverstone next weekend.”
Deagen retained the lead at the top of the British Formula 4 Championship after securing his fourth win of the year on Saturday. In an eventful weekend that was marred by red flags and Safety Cars, he left the Hampshire track with a 30-point lead in the standings, despite retiring from race three. Meanwhile, team-mate Mika Abrahams scored another podium finish with second place in race two.
“We’ve been showing good pace and it was good fun, but the red flag in race one meant we had to build another gap again – which we managed to do,” said Deagen on Saturday. “Also Hitech GP keep up their streak of winning here, which is great. Four wins out of nine races is a really good start to the early part of the season.”
Deagen started the weekend perfectly, claiming a double pole position and leading the first race from lights-to-flag. On the opening lap, Reza slotted into third, but the race was quickly suspended following an incident further down the field. After a short delay to remove the stricken cars, the race restarted and Deagen remained in P1 for the re-scheduled seven-lapper.
Deagen built up a commanding lead to take victory by just under five seconds at the flag – and also gained an extra point for fastest lap. Separately, late-race contact for Reza resulted in him dropping out of contention, while Mika came through to finish fifth.
In the partially reversed grid for race two on Sunday lunchtime, Mika started on the front-row and held second place as the race got underway. Unfortunately more contact led to a Safety Car and then a second red-flag stoppage of the weekend. At the restart Mika once again held second – which he held to the chequered flag.
“I’m really happy to get second place,” said Mika. “I was trying to keep up with the race leader, but the Safety Car hampered my progress. Despite that, this is a great result for myself and the Hitech GP team in the championship battle. It’s great to stand on the podium again after a tough few rounds.”
Behind Mika, Deagen stayed out of trouble in a busy midfield to rise from 12th on the grid to finish fifth – despite running wide at the chicane in the closing stages – while Reza took seventh and the fastest lap.
After the ten races held so far this season, Deagen has scored 181 points and holds a 30-point lead over the opposition. Mika and Reza sit sixth and seventh respectively on 82 and 70 points. It’s a quick turnaround for the Hitech GP Formula 4 team who head to Silverstone next weekend for the next round of the championship.
