{"id":234,"date":"2021-10-27T11:19:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T10:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiaformula4.com\/?p=234"},"modified":"2021-10-27T11:19:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T10:19:12","slug":"matthew-rees-crowned-2021-champion-at-brands-hatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/matthew-rees-crowned-2021-champion-at-brands-hatch\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Rees crowned 2021 champion at Brands Hatch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>JHR Developments racer Matthew Rees claimed the 2021 F4 British Championship certified by FIA &#8211; powered by Ford EcoBoost title with a hat-trick of top-five finishes around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit last weekend (23-24 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.fiaformula4.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Matthew-Rees-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-235 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The 15-year-old from Cardiff, Wales arrived at the 2.4-mile Kent circuit with a 12-point advantage over closest rival Matias Zagazeta (Phinsys by Argenti), with JHR team-mate McKenzy Cresswell and Fortec&#8217;s Joel Granfors also in mathematical contention to seal the honours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite qualifying marginally behind Zagazeta, the title fight swung decisively in Rees&#8217; favour during the first of three races. Running behind the Peruvian heading into the closing laps, Rees put one hand on the Drivers&#8217; title after Zagazeta ran wide at Sheene Curve and ended his race in the gravel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That meant Rees needed a four-point swing in the reverse grid race on Saturday evening to secure the title with a round to spare, and he duly delivered, rising from the sixth row of the grid to finish fifth; with Zagazeta ninth, the race to be crowned FIA British Formula 4 champion was over.<br><br>Rees&#8217; triumph also included the Rookie title, and his efforts &#8211; plus a brace of victories for Cresswell &#8211; went some way to securing the Teams Cup title for JHR, marking the first time an entrant has completed a clean sweep of championship titles in a single season.<br><br>&#8220;It feels amazing to win the championship,&#8221; said Rees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It shows that all the time in winter testing has paid off, and of course it means a lot to me, my Dad and the entire team at JHR Developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s Steven [Hunter]&#8217;s first time winning the Drivers&#8217; title too, that means a lot to him and I&#8217;m happy to be able to give that to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As we&#8217;ve progressed through the season, we&#8217;ve kept the speed and then been able to convert it into race wins, and I think that&#8217;s what was crucial in this championship.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rees concluded the weekend with a fourth-placed finish in the ITV4-televised finale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Rees was crowned the 2021 FIA British Formula 4 champion at Brands Hatch last weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiaformula4.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}