Round 8 – Donington Park – Race Report
Deagen Fairclough continued his domination of this year’s British Formula 4 Championship with a clean sweep of podiums and his tenth win of the season at the weekend. The British driver is now within touching distance of the drivers’ title as he carries a 138-point lead with just six of the 30 rounds remaining.
Deagen’s tenth victory of 2024 came in the fourth of four races at Donington Park’s GP layout on Sunday. He led all 12 laps from pole position and withheld sustained pressure from behind. The 18-year steered his Hitech machine to victory and looked cool and calm at the front of the field. In parc fermé he celebrated his tenth win of the year by paying homage to an Olympic break-dancing athlete as he posed on the monocoque of his victorious Hitech car.
“It’s nice to finish the meeting at Donington Park with a win,” said a delighted Deagen. “Alex [Ninovic] has put up a good fight this weekend and I’ve enjoyed the battle. It’s been great to get three P2s and then finally onto the top step of the podium. The whole Hitech team deserve this result massively — and this is for them.
“As for my celebration, yeah, the big number ten is nice to get and my balance [doing the pose] was tricky as I thought I was going to fall backwards into the cockpit!” joked Deagen. “I’m looking forward to the next round at Silverstone, as it’s Hitech’s local track and we always have a good car there. But it’s racing and I know that anything can happen with six races to go.”
Deagen’s triumph in the final race rounded off an excellent weekend for the Hitech ace. It started with him claiming his fifth C1RCUIT Watches Pole Position Award with top spot in a wet qualifying session. In Saturday’s opening race, Deagen was beaten off the line but came through a Safety Car and red-flag stoppage to take second at the flag.
On Saturday’s extra race — which was a rescheduled round from earlier in the season — Deagen again finished second and gained two extra championship points for his two Motul Fastest Laps.
But perhaps his most impressive performance of the weekend came in Sunday morning’s reverse grid event. Starting P12, he brilliantly scythed through the field to take another second place — gaining points for each car he overtook and a bonus point for the fastest lap (which he recorded on the final tour). Equally impressive on Sunday morning was the performance of his Hitech team-mate Reza Seewooruthun who started 14th and came through the field to take P5 at the chequered flag.
Reza also took a fourth place in Saturday’s rescheduled race (in addition to a P9 and P8 finish) and the decent points haul has enabled Hitech to retain their all-important place at the top of the teams’ standings. We leave Donington Park with a 30.5 gap at the top of the table.
