Ugo Ugochukwu claimed victory in the qualifying race at the Macau Grand Prix to put himself on pole position for the main event on Sunday.
The 17-year-old American held off a charging Oliver Goethe to take the win, with fellow Formula 3 driver and future teammate Noel Leon locking out the top three.
With tricky weather conditions and the unforgiving nature of the Macau circuit, the race added more stoppages to a chaotic weekend as Sota Ogawa and Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen found the wall on the opening lap, bringing out the safety car.
The race was red flagged with three laps to go as torrential rain hit the track with drivers on slick tyres. With limited time left, the safety car led the field around for the remaining laps to finish the event, giving Ugochukwu the victory,
Alan Hyde lauds ‘exceptional’ Ugo Ugochukwu after ‘really impressive’ qualifying performance
It has been a solid performance thus far from the 17-year-old at Macau, as he took pole position on Friday from Goethe after the German had topped the time sheets in practice and Qualifying 1.
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Qualifying 2 saw seven red flags across the session, with the final one ending proceedings with three minutes to go. Ugochukwu claimed pole by just 14 thousandths of a second over Goethe.
Speaking on commentary as the race came to a close, Alan Hyde lauded Ugochukwu’s ‘exceptional’ performance in the race, as he carried on his ‘really impressive’ form shown in qualifying.
“Ugo Ugochukwu has driven an exceptional race, let’s discount what has happened since the weather changed,” he said.
“He was doing everything he needed to do, controlling that gap over Oliver Goethe in second position.
“As we watch the BMW leading Ugo around, he was really impressive in a very difficult qualifying session yesterday, keeping his head, working out exactly what he had to do, when he had to do it.
“He delivered, yesterday in qualifying and in the race today, he is delivering once again.”
Ugo Ugochukwu will drive with PREMA Racing next season in Formula 3
Ugochukwu is in a good position for the Macau Grand Prix on Sunday, given how he was able to control the qualifying race at the front from the very beginning.
Victory at Macau would also put the McLaren junior in good stead for next season, where he will make the step up to F3 with PREMA.
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Ugochukwu has had a fairly disappointing 2024 season compared to last year, where he won the Euro 4 Championship. The 17-year-old finished seventh in FRECA, 11th in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship and 13th in GB3, claiming just one win across all three categories.
Fans berated PREMA’s signing of Ugochukwu over some of their other talented drivers such as James Wharton and Rafael Camara – who have both now left the team to join ART Grand Prix and Trident respectively.
But with his impressive performances at Macau so far, perhaps those fans were too quick to judge the American.