Fairclough dominates British F4’s first ever race abroad at Zandvoort

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Deagan Fairclough took a dominant victory in the first ever overseas British Formula 4 race at Zandvoort.

Wet weather impacted visibility for most of the field at the Dutch track, but Fairclough was able to storm away from pole position into clear air. The championship leader did not put a wheel wrong throughout the 11-lap race and finished almost nine seconds clear of second place. However, his race start is under investigation. 

Fairclough got a good start from pole while second place Martin Molnar hung back out of the spray. There was some drama further behind as drivers tried to deal with difficult conditions, but everybody managed to avoid contact. With no safety car incidents to reel Fairclough in, he ran away at the front of the field, setting fastest lap after fastest lap en route to his sixth win of 2024.

Behind him, Alex Ninovic got the jump on Maxwell Dodds off the line and was trying to find a way past Molnar. Although Molnar hung on for a number of laps, Ninovic managed to find a way through. He was already over four seconds behind Fairclough at this point though and despite also showing impressive pace once in clear air could not hunt down the leader.

He was however over seven seconds clear of Molnar by the finish, who also had his own seven-second gap to Dodds.

After starting at the sharp end of the field, Ella Lloyd and Reza Seewooruthun both ran into problems early on. Seewooruthun made a slow getaway and dropped down the order. He managed to climb back up to 11th, just ahead of Lloyd, who had an off through the gravel on lap one.

The incidents allowed Ernesto Rivera to come through to fifth, but he would spend the race having to defend against Kai Daryanani. With the slippy conditions difficult to overtake in, soon Yuanpu Cui and James Higgings were filling Rivera’s mirrors too. They battle all the way to the final lap, and all held position.

Elsewhere on track there were problems for Jack Sherwood, who had to pit with car trouble. After heading back out, he then ran into problems on the banking which damaged his front wing. The rest of the race was run with yellow flags at that corner due to the debris on track. 

Abbi Pulling, sixth in the championship, finished just ahead of Rowan Campbell-Pilling in ninth place.

Race result (11 laps)