Deagen Fairclough takes British F4 win number 10

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Deagen Fairclough took his 10th British Formula 4 victory of the season in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park.

He spent the first half of the race under pressure from championship rival Alex Ninovic, but managed to keep the Rodin Motorsport driver at bay. As Ninovic came under attack himself, Fairclough was able to pull away and was almost three seconds clear when the race ended.

Fairclough now leads Ninovic by 138 points with 140 available from the final two rounds, meaning he could clinch the title in qualifying for the next round at Silverstone.

Other than track limit infringements, it was a relatively clean race until the final laps, when two incidents led to the red flag being thrown with five seconds left on the clock. The race would not resume.

Alex Berg had been leading a train of drivers in ninth for much of the race, but the charging Reza Seewooruthun managed to take the position in the final laps. Berg’s team-mate Kai Daryanani then attempted a move and made contact with the back of Berg’s car, giving Berg a puncture and damaging his own front wing. Berg ended the race in the gravel, unable to get his car out.

Shortly afterwards, an incident involving August Raber resulted in him stranded sideways on track, and the decision was made to call the race early.

There was unlikely to have been much change at the top of the order in the final laps. Ninovic had kept Fairclough under pressure throughout the first half of the race. Initially they had a good gap to Rowan Campbell-Pilling in third but, as they battled for position, Campbell-Pilling was able to close onto the back of the duo. Ninovic then turned from attack to defence, allowing Fairclough to slip away.

By the time the race ended, Ninovic had managed to shake the rookie driver and was 1.4s clear in the final timings.

Leo Robinson took fourth, ahead of James Higgins and Yuanpu Cui. Jack Sherwood was seventh on track, but two track limit penalties dropped him back to 11th and out of the points.

The closest battles in the final laps were further down the field.

Seewooruthun, who had started 14th, continued his climb up through the field and managed to pass Chloe Chong for eighth on track on the final lap. However, as the results were counted back a lap due to the red flag, the positions were reversed. Due to Sherwood’s penalty, Seewooruthun moved back up to eighth, ahead of Daryanani and Martin Molnar.

Race results (12 laps)