The fight for front-running supremacy on the support bill of the British Touring Car Championship intensified at Silverstone this past weekend (September 21/22) to set up what promises to be a grandstand finish at Brands Hatch in less than two weeks’ time.
Taking centre stage on the National layout of the Home of British Motor Racing, thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing played out across four categories with one title – the ROKiT British F4 Championship certified by FIA – being wrapped up with a round to spare.
Having been the driver to beat for much of the season, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Deagen Fairclough converted his commanding advantage at the top of the standings into an unassailable lead after producing another superlative performance in the single-seater series.
Fairclough became the latest leading light to claim the coveted trophy in emphatic fashion as he blasted his way to pole position in qualifying before then claiming two commanding lights-to-flag race wins.
In addition to becoming the tenth champion of the series, Fairclough also set a brand-new record for the championship as he eclipsed Alex Dunne’s record for the most race wins in a single season, raising the benchmark to 12.
Only two of the weekend’s three races took place at the Northamptonshire venue however as two red flags in race two led to the contest being postponed. It would later be cancelled altogether due to heavy rainfall.
History was made in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain as Team Parker Racing’s Abbie Eaton took centre stage to become the first-ever female driver to win an outright race in the ultra-competitive series.
Showing plenty of pace around the 1.64-mile circuit during practice, Pro-Am entrant Eaton clinched a sensational pole position in qualifying and then shadowed Charles Rainford in race one after making a small mistake while in the lead.
Race two was where Eaton made history though as the right tyre call saw the accomplished racer blast into the lead at the start and from there she never looked back, leading all 29 laps to triumph ahead of George Gamble and Daniel Lloyd.
Max Coates continues to lead the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain standings, despite the fact he didn’t stand on the top step of the podium across any of the series’ three races during the weekend.
Coates’ nearest challenge Sebastian Hopkins claimed victory in race one before Thomas Bradshaw and Will Jenkins then went on to claim a win apiece. With three races remaining, Coates holds a ten-point lead going into Brands Hatch.
The Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy made its last appearance of the season on the TOCA support bill and it too didn’t disappoint with three action-packed races that had fans on the edge of their seats.
Chandler Motorsport’s Rhys Hurd continued his recent streak of winning the opening race of the weekend before there was a maiden victory in the tin top category for Graves Motorsport’s James Black in race two.
Sam Gornall concluded the action as he led home a Westbourne Motorsport 1-2-3-4 and with it, opened up a commanding lead at the head of the standings with just one race meeting now remaining.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Silverstone, CLICK HERE.