Fairclough takes 14th win in rain-disrupted British F4 finale

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Deagen Fairclough won a disrupted final race of the 2024 British Formula 4 championship at Brands Hatch.

Wet conditions led to multiple offs on the opening lap, prompting a red flag and a restart. Later, another incident prompted a lengthy safety car period, leaving a three minute dash to the flag.

Despite the shortened end to the race, Fairclough finished more than four seconds clear of the rest of the field as he took the chequered flag for the 14th and final time this season.

The field initially started the race on slick tyres, but a shower began just before the start of the race. Most of the field didn’t make it around the first lap before the red flag was thrown. James Higgins and Bart Harrison had gone off at Paddock Hill Bend, with Higgins becoming trapped in the gravel. Further around, Alex Ninovic was one of many drivers to run wide at Surtees, and Rowan Campbell-Pilling later spun.

The race was red flagged and the field came into the pits, with most drivers then switching to wet weather tyres. Despite causing the red flag, Higgins was allowed to take to the grid for the restart.

The second start went much cleaner than the first and the top three drivers managed to break free from the rest of the field. Fairclough, Leo Robinson, and Reza Seewoorutun were initially nose to tail. Robinson and Seewooruthun could not keep pace with Fairclough, who escaped down the road.

Fairclough had a gap of over four seconds when the safety car was brought out for an off for Yuhao Fu and August Raber.

The champion-elect made a great restart when racing resumed with less than three minutes on the clock, leaving Robinson and Seewooruthun behind to battle for second. He was was 4.445s clear at the chequered flag.

Behind, it was Ninovic challenging for second. Ninovic had made a good start off the line the first time, but couldn’t repeat this the second time around. Instead, he was locked in a battle with Harrison for fourth. Harrison soon became distracted by Higgins behind, leaving Ninovic to close the gap to the top three. 

After the safety car period, he again came under attack from Harrison, but a wide moment for Harrison took him out of contention. Ninovic found a way past Seewooruthun and kept the pressure on Robinson, but had to settle for third.

Seewooruthun took fourth ahead of James Higgins, who beat him to third in the championship standings by just half a point.

Kai Daryanani finished sixth, followed by Yuanpu Cui, Abbi Pulling and Ella Lloyd. Thomas Bearman completed the top 10.

Race result (10 laps)