Deagen Fairclough continued his excellent start to this year’s British Formula 4 Championship with two wins at Brands Hatch at the weekend – which included a sensational 1-2-3 for Hitech GP with Mika Abrahams and Reza Seewooruthun joining him on the podium. It was a thrilling live TV race in which Deagen enjoyed a race-long battle for the win, that culminated in him taking the lead on the penultimate lap. Both Mika and Reza finished in close contention and all three celebrated in style on the podium.
“It was hard racing and it’s really difficult to follow in these F4 cars because of the dirty air,” said Deagen. “I lost out at the start from pole, so I was trying really hard after that, giving 100 per cent, but as the race went on I could see the leader was starting to lose his tyres and making more mistakes.”
For lap after lap, Deagen tried to pass for the lead, looking for an out-braking move at Paddock Hill Bend or Druids, until finally a gap appeared coming out of Clearways on the penultimate lap. Despite contact between the two, which led to Alex Ninovic running wide into the gravel trap, Deagen was clear he had given his rival plenty of racing room.
“I could see the leader run wide heading into the final corner of the lap and there was a gap. I left him plenty of room – there was more than a car’s width on the outside,” continued Deagen, who held on for the final lap to secure his fourth win of the year.
“What a fantastic weekend,” he added. “Hitech GP have given me such a good car and even though it’s the early stages of the season, I think we’re going to be fighting for the championship this year.”
Deagen’s win in round six came after he’d dominated round four on Saturday afternoon, leading every lap from pole position on the Brands Hatch Indy layout. He made a great start and also recorded the fastest lap of the race to get the weekend off to a superb start for the team. Deagen also made in-roads in the reserve grid race, claiming the final point for eighth and making up four places from his original grid position.
Finishing just ahead of Deagen in round five was Mika, who unfortunately was eliminated in the opening race of the weekend after a slow get-away off the line resulted in an incident when he was collected by another car. But he was all smiles after taking second place in the final race of the weekend with Reza finishing on his tail after another confidence-building weekend.
“We have worked so hard together,” said Mika, speaking to ITV4’s Steve Rider in parc ferme after the race. “We put in the work in the factory, in the sim and the gym and we’ve scored a 1-2-3 and that’s really special for us as friends. We couldn’t have given the team a better result and we hope we can score many more 1-2-3s and dominate the championship throughout the season. We have a great line-up and an amazing team in Hitech GP behind us.”
Deagen leaves Brands Hatch after extending his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings by 23 points with the next three rounds at Snetterton on May 25-26.
