Deagen Fairclough celebrated an emotional breakthrough after claiming his first two GB3 Championship pole positions at the 2026 Silverstone Round 5 on Saturday morning.
The Hitech driver topped both Qualifying sessions by more than a tenth of a second and began the second half of the season in commanding fashion. He will now aim to convert his front-row advantage into his second GB3 victory.
Double pole rewards Hitech’s hard work
Fairclough entered the weekend after showing strong pace throughout pre-event testing, and he carried that speed into Qualifying.
The 19-year-old secured his maiden GB3 pole in the opening session before completing the double with the fastest lap of the weekend in Qualifying 2.
“[It’s] very special and I’m so pleased,” said the 19-year-old to GB3 after Qualifying. “I can’t thank the team enough; we’ve been working so hard and it’s finally come together.”
The result rewarded Fairclough and Hitech after a challenging opening half of the campaign repeatedly prevented them from translating their speed into consistent results.
Fairclough ends lengthy wait for pole
Fairclough had not taken a pole position in any championship since October 2024. On that occasion, he secured double pole during the final British F4 round of the season at Brands Hatch. Therefore, his Silverstone success ended a wait of almost two years.
“It’s been a long time to wait, and I’d forgotten how good this feeling is,” he admitted. “I just need to keep my head down and keep working hard as a team, and hopefully there are a few more to come.”
His Qualifying performance also demonstrated the pace that Fairclough has regularly shown throughout his sophomore GB3 campaign.
Final lap delivers second pole
Fairclough established the benchmark early by taking Race 1 pole in the opening Qualifying session. However, he faced a tougher challenge in Qualifying 2. Xcel Motorsport’s Rowan Campbell-Pilling moved to the top and appeared set to claim his maiden GB3 pole, but Fairclough produced his best lap with his final effort.
The Hitech driver recorded a 1m49.714s and beat Campbell-Pilling by 0.141s.
“I didn’t really expect it,” said Fairclough. “I just gave it my absolute everything, sent it and was able to get it. My engineer screamed so loud [over the radio] but I’m so happy and it shows how happy everyone is.”
The late improvement secured Fairclough’s second pole of the morning and completed a perfect start to the weekend.
Difficult first half strengthens Fairclough
Fairclough entered the Silverstone round 10th in the drivers’ standings after failing to finish six of the season’s opening 11 races.
Although he claimed victory in Budapest and regularly qualified near the front, incidents and other setbacks restricted his points total.
Nevertheless, Fairclough believes those difficulties have strengthened him ahead of the championship’s remaining rounds.
“It’s been a tough first half and I’ve got to knuckle down and focus for this second half,” he said. “I can’t believe how unfortunate we have been this year, but we’ve taken it and it makes you become a better driver. I’m just pleased that we can focus on to the home circuits like Silverstone, Donington and Brands Hatch.”
The championship’s run of British rounds now gives Fairclough an opportunity to rebuild his season at circuits where he and Hitech expect to perform strongly.
Fairclough targets controlled Race 1
Fairclough will start Race 1 from pole as he seeks his second GB3 victory. His first win came during the 2025 season finale at Monza, and he has already shown strong starting pace throughout the current campaign.
“We’ve had some good starts this year so hopefully we can just do that,” he said. “Then, it’s just managing the pace, being sensible and doing nothing too silly.”
Although victory remains the immediate objective, Fairclough also wants to use his strong starting positions to secure a substantial points haul across the weekend.
“[I want to] collect some good points this weekend now that we’re in a good position. I look forward to this reverse-grid as well.”
Race 1 will begin at 13:25 UK time on Saturday.
Fairclough received his Pole Position trophies from Amber Macintyre, the sister of GB3 race winner Will Macintyre, as the motorsport community continues to support Will’s battle against Neuro XLP1.
