Hitech GP has promoted ROKiT-backed Deagen Fairclough, winner of the 2024 ROKiT British F4 Championship, to the team’s GB3 squad for the 2025 season.
The 18-year-old Briton has been an unstoppable force in his second year in the series, earning plaudits for his record-setting victory tally, succession of Podium Finishes, Fastest Laps and Pole Positions, and the speed at which his single-seater career has accelerated.
Two years ago, Deagen was racing at the wheel of a Sim Racing setup at his home in Surrey, UK. He entered, and won, the 2022 edition of the ROKiT Racing Star eSports competition, for which the prize was a fully funded season in British F4 for 2023. The programme was created by ROKiT Co-founder and Chairman Jonathan Kendrick and the late Robert Fernley, with the aim of making the sport accessible to young talent for whom the cost of entry usually poses a significant barrier.
In only two seasons of British F4, Fairclough has not only demonstrated his own enormous potential with his burgeoning collection of silverware, he is also a torchbearer for the next generation, for whom Sim Racing can be a viable pathway into motorsport.
The ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA is the first step for aspiring young drivers making the transition from karting into single-seaters. Deagen had been karting since the age of five and moved to closed-wheel cars when he was 13 years old. Sim Racing helped him hone his skills in virtual open-wheel cars and three years on he was winning races and scoring podium finishes in real-world racing at tracks including Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington Park.
“I’m thrilled to be taking the next step in my single-seater career,” said Deagen Fairclough. “2024 has been an incredible season, one I’ll never forget. To win the British F4 Drivers’ title, and set a new record, is a dream come true.”
“None of this would have been possible without the support of firstly ROKiT and its Racing Star programme and now Hitech, who have prepared a fantastic car all season and provided the environment for me to be able to perform and develop,” he continued. “I’m proud that our success in the Drivers’ Cup helped them win the Teams’ Cup too. I can’t thank ROKiT and Hitech enough for the journey so far and their support for me as I step up to GB3. I look forward to rewarding their faith in me on the racetrack.”
“Deagen’s achievements in his nascent single-seater career cannot be underestimated,” commented Phil Blow, Hitech GP’s GB3 Championship Team Manager. “His performances in British F4 this season have been metronomic and he staked his claim on the title in the first couple of rounds. His results and consistency also played a hugely significant role in helping Hitech secure the Teams’ Cup.
“It has been exciting for us to see Deagen’s progression within the team, and his step up to the GB3 Championship is very well deserved,” Blow continued. “We look forward to the impact he will make on the next rung of the ladder and in what I’m sure will be a long and successful career ahead.”
Jonathan Kendrick, Co-founder and Chairman of ROKiT Industries, said: “ROKiT is extremely proud to be supporting Deagen, and to have done so since he first set out on his single-seater career. To see him become the ROKiT British F4 Champion was incredibly rewarding in the context of everything we set out to achieve with the ROKiT Racing Star programme – and to win the Championship so emphatically, breaking all F4 records on the way, has been phenomenal!”
“We’re so pleased to have discovered Deagen and supported him for the last two seasons in the ROKiT British F4 Championship and we’re delighted to continue backing him into GB3 next year with Hitech,” he continued. “Deagen will also be an Ambassador for our next sim-to-circuit competition, ROKiT Racing Driver, which we’ll launch early next year for young esport drivers from around the world to participate in.”
