Formula Vee - Silverstone International - August 15/16th

46 minutes ago
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Harry Fagan enjoyed a weekend to remember as the Irish Formula Vee Championship made its much anticipated trip to Silverstone, with the Selco backed driver claiming Rookie Class honours in both away races before securing his first ever overall podium on Sunday, fittingly on his 18th birthday. Starting from ninth overall for Saturday's contest and tenth on Sunday's grid, Fagan combined pace, consistency and race craft to leave the famous Northamptonshire circuit with one of the biggest milestones of his young Formula Vee career.

Race 1

Qualifying had already hinted at a strong weekend ahead for Fagan. The Leastone JH004 driver was fastest of the rookies and lined up ninth overall, finding himself in the thick of the midfield battle amongst leading TyreDoctor.ie B class runners and a number of returning veterans.

When the lights went out for Saturday afternoon's 15-minute race, Harry was shuffled down the order to 13^th, as some of the more experienced runners got their elbows out. He didn’t panic though and steadily began moving his way up the order, all the while heading the Rookie class. Running in a tightly packed train for much of the race, he steadily improved his pace as he gained confidence around the fast-flowing Silverstone International layout.

By the chequered flag, he had pushed forward to the cusp of the top 10 and secured 11th overall and with it, a valuable class win. The result marked a strong start to the weekend and he would put this experience to good use for Sundays event.

Race 2

Using the second-fastest qualifying times to set the grid, Fagan lined up tenth overall and once again headed the Rookies. Unfortunately, his main class rival was unable to take the start, meaning that Harry already had one hand on the Rookie winners trophy, but his focus was firmly on the overall picture rather than class honours alone.

With the entire field now fully dialed in to the Silverstone layout, the opening laps of Race 2 were frantic. Harry took onboard the lessons from his Race 1 start and duly got his elbows out this time, taking advantage of the early lap chaos. With a handful of competitors stranded around the track, the safety car was deployed on Lap 5, at which time Fagan found himself in 2^nd place overall!

The clean-up lasted 4 laps and by the time the safety car peeled off, there was just time for a dramatic 1 lap dash to the flag. Harry held his nerve superbly, with the field breathing down his neck he only slipped one position on the restart and secured an outstanding 3rd overall while also taking yet another Rookie victory.

This was only Harrys second race weekend back in the cockpit, following the April shunt that had him sitting on the side lines with 4 fractured vertebrae. The scenes in parc fermé and at the trophy presentation perfectly captured the spirit of Formula Vee, as drivers and teams alike joined in celebrating Harry's first overall podium following a challenging few months on the road to recovery.

As Silverstone marked championship rounds 8 and 9, it’s easy to forget that Harry has had extremely limited track time to date and continues to build experience and confidence in his first year of cars. He will be looking to carry this momentum forward into the next event, when the Vees are back on home turf for a double header on Mondello’s International layout on 12/13^th of September. But for now, he can bask in the glory of his breakthrough weekend.