After securing a 1-2-3 finish for the team last time out at Brands Hatch, our trio of star drivers will be striving for more glory as they head to Snetterton this coming weekend. Deagan Fairclough has been the standout competitor of the season so far and travels to the Norfolk circuit leading the British Formula 4 drivers’ standings. Victory in three of the five races so far, including first place in that memorable final race at Brands Hatch, puts the British ace 39 points ahead in the championship.
“Brands Hatch was such a great event for myself and the whole HitechGP team,” said Deagan. “And to cap off the weekend with a podium lockout for the team was a brilliant achievement and it was so much fun to share that moment with my team-mates Mika and Reza.”
“I’ve been really pleased with how we’ve started the year,” he continued. “I’ve felt very comfortable inside the car and we’ve been able to extract pace from the work we’ve done on setup. I’m excited to see how we’ll get on this weekend as Snetterton is a difficult track to master.”
Snetterton has undergone a number of different configurations since it was first operational 75 years ago. This coming weekend (May 25-26) the track near Thetford will use the ‘300’ layout which is just under three miles in length. With more run-off available than the first two rounds (at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch) and long straights leading into tight hairpins, this weekend could lead to more overtaking opportunities.
Heading to Snetterton lying fourth in the points, with one win so far, is Mika Abrahams and he’s set his sights on closing the gap to the top of the table. However, the South African knows this weekend’s three races won’t be a foregone conclusion.
“It’s quite a different type of circuit to what we’ve raced on so far this year,” said Mika. “Snetterton is quite technical with its long radius corners and tricky sequences, but our setup is good so we just need to put everything together and make sure we don’t leave anything on the table going into qualifying.”
Buoyed by his podium finish at Brands Hatch and sitting just nine points – and two places – behind Mika in the British F4 drivers’ standings, Reza Seewooruthun is looking for another consistent weekend and to come away from Norfolk with a strong haul of points.
“With its two long straights, one of the keys to racing this weekend will be maximising corner exits to carry the momentum,” says Reza. “That will help keep you in the slipstream of the car in front which means it could offer an opportunity for passing. Equally, the tricky infield section will demand a good balance and precision driving. Even a tiny mistake will be detrimental to lap time.”
With a test day on Friday, qualifying for round three takes place between 11.15-35 on Saturday morning with race one at 14.55. On Sunday, race two is a 9.30am with the televised live race on ITV4 (in the UK) at 13.35.
