Deagen Fairclough, who will race in the 2025 GB3 Championship, has been named as the winner of the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
The British F4 champion collected his prize at the climax of Wednesday evening’s Autosport Awards, held at the Roundhouse in London, in front of hundreds of the world’s leading motorsport figures.
As a recipient of one of motorsport’s most prestigious prizes, the 18-year-old wins a full test with the Aston Martin F1 team, a cash prize of £200,000 and full membership of the BRDC. He was named as a finalist following his stunning British F4 campaign with Hitech, which netted 14 wins, 15 pole positions and 22 podiums. The British driver stays with Hitech as he moves up to GB3 this year.
He underwent two days of assessments on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit at the wheel of MSV F2, RLR M Sport Ligier LMP3 and Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars, as well as undergoing simulator and fitness tests, plus interviews with the judging panel, headed by BRDC Vice President Derek Warwick.
Warwick’s fellow judges included former Award winners Dario Franchitti, Darren Turner, Andrew Kirkaldy and Alexander Sims, F1 race-winner Johnny Herbert, Touring Car champions Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato, Autosport editor Kevin Turner, esteemed commentator Ian Titchmarsh, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade and Lola and McLaren designer Mark Williams.
Fairclough said: “Honestly, this means so, so much. Thank you to every single person, my mum, my dad, my friends. Thank you to Silverstone for setting this up again, 35 years of it, and I hope to follow on in the footsteps of the rest of the winners.
“I am speechless. It was a fantastic two days. Even if I didn’t win I learnt so much, and the other drivers made me put so much into it over the two days.
“It was weird having no phone, as I was worried about not getting up in time each morning!
“The faces I’ve seen in this building are inspirational. To test an F1 car at 18, not many get to do that, so it is incredible."
Fairclough becomes the first driver to enter GB3 having won the Award before racing in the series.