Hitech's Deagen Fairclough has become the first driver in British Formula 4 history to seal the title at the penultimate event after triumphing in race one at Silverstone.
Sophomore racer Fairclough has been the class of the field this season and headed to Northamptonshire needing just 22 points to be sure of the championship.
He achieved those by leading throughout the opening contest from pole, fending off the early threat of key rival Alex Ninovic into Copse.
Fairclough continued to lead as Ninovic got shuffled back by his Rodin team-mates, before having to pit to change a damaged front wing following contact with Zack Scoular when battling for fourth, which ended Ninovic's faint hopes.
Fairclough has therefore made history as no other driver has secured the title prior to the Brands Hatch finale since the category became an FIA F4 championship in 2015.
“To win it a round early, it’s such a nice way to win,” said Fairclough.
“To get double pole this morning just started it off really well. Now we can have some fun [for the rest of the weekend].”
Former Fiesta Junior competitor Fairclough earned a funded place on the grid last year via a ROKiT Racing Star shootout and instantly caught the eye with his aggressive racecraft, which he paired with some strong results as the season wore on, eventually finishing third in the standings.
He therefore entered 2024 as one of the title favourites and lived up to that tag by triumphing in the opening contest at Donington Park - and that has set the tone for the rest of the campaign.
To date, he has won 11 times to draw level with 2022 conqueror Alex Dunne's series record and has five more races left to add to his tally.
“I wouldn’t be here without the sim competition ROKiT set up – racing is so financially hard to get into, especially as I’m from a working class family,” added Fairclough, who said he will now have a meeting with sponsor ROKiT to finalise plans for 2025.
“Hopefully we can extend that win record a bit and put it out of reach.”
Ninovic, who moved across from Spanish F4 to contest the British series this season, has been Fairclough's closest rival throughout year.
The pair had a couple of controversial incidents early in the campaign, at Brands Hatch and Snetterton, before Fairclough built his insurmountable lead.
Ninovic is currently 164 points adrift of Fairclough, but the Australian is in turn almost 100 clear of third-placed James Higgins.
Aside from Fairclough and Ninovic, no other driver has been victorious more than twice so far this season as a lack of consistency has been a common theme across the rest of the grid.
