Reigning British F4 champion and Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year, Deagen Fairclough, had to dig deep at Silverstone after a frustrating start to the 2025 GB3 season. He qualified 16th and 10th for the opening two races. However, when he failed to get away on the formation lap, he compromised his first outing. Forced to start from the pit lane, he recovered to 17th at the flag.
Set-up changes force rear-grid starts
Fairclough was consigned to the back of the grid for Sunday’s races after the team made overnight changes to the car on Saturday. Despite the setback, he showed the same grit and racecraft that carried him to the British F4 crown. In race two, he gained 10 positions before Stewards applied penalties, setting the stage for his most memorable drive of the weekend.
The weekend’s highlight came in the 25-minute final contest. Starting 25th, Fairclough stunned the paddock by storming through the field to finish seventh. Across the three races, he gained a remarkable 35 places — a statistic that underlines both his determination and overtaking prowess.
“It’s nice to end the weekend strong,” he said. “We bounced back from a few issues and I’m looking forward to Zandvoort now, a track that I absolutely love, and I’ve done well previously there. To end the Silverstone weekend strong and gain that many positions and get the elbows out was nice because I haven’t done that in a while. I appreciate the team, they’ve worked so hard all weekend and to now be in a good space is really good.”
Fairclough filled his recovery drives with bold manoeuvres, many of them right on the limit.
“I thought I was going to be collected in a few of them to be honest! But it was great racing, I think the move on Kanato [Le] at the Loop was cool, late braking and I got it stopped somehow. But there were so many overtakes I couldn’t really choose one.”
Championship ambitions remain
Despite lying 14th in the early standings, Fairclough remains firmly focused on the bigger picture. The tightly packed order means one strong weekend could launch him back into title contention.
“Silverstone has given us that confidence boost especially, and in the reverse grid we’ve proven we can make those positions. It’s confidence boosting and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year. We’ve got a championship to win ahead of us!”
