UGOCHUCKWU CROWNED ITALIAN F4 VICE-CHAMPION
And so it all came to an end on Sunday, 15th of October, as the chequered flag dropped for the last time for the 2023 Italian F4 Championship. Ugo Ugochukwu crossed the line shortly behind leader and Championship winner Kacper Sztuka, officially earning the title of Vice-Champion, after a very long and intense season.
The young American joined the 2023 line-up with the F4 British Rookie Champion title in the bag, and a few races of the Italian series under his belt in 2022. Since the first race of the season, Ugo proved to be a fierce competitor and very probable contender for this year’s title: his determination, stamina and relentlessness proved to be the key qualities, which eventually took him to stand on the second step of the podium in Vallelunga the past weekend.
The McLaren Junior started this weekend just like all the previous, going out in full speed from the first day on track. On his first outing, Ugo was fast enough to claim the second quickest time overall, just behind Italian Badoer, and took home a solid P5 in the second session of the morning.
On Friday afternoon, the drivers went out on track twice again for Qualifying. With his eyes set on keeping the gap to championship leader Sztuka as little as possible, the 16-year-old driver for Prema went out with full confidence in his pace and was able to claim third place in both sessions, behind teammate Tukka Taponen and an even faster Sztuka. Thanks to the solid performance in the qualifying session, Ugo secured two second row starts for the upcoming races.
Race 1 saw the American launch past the starting line, immediately chasing down the flying Finn just in front of him and the Pole in first position, and eventually take on the lead, putting down some very smart maneuvers on track. A very well-deserved win, who saw Ugo close the gap to #1 in the championship even more.
Once again starting from the Top 3 positions, Sztuka, Taponen and Ugochukwu were looking to battle once again for the win. This time, a hard-charging Badoer unexpectedly joined the party, and made his way up in P3, stripping the young American of a second podium finish.
Determined to make his way back to the podium, the Prema driver took advantage of another P3 start in the last race of the weekend to engage in an exciting battle with teammate Taponen. This time, the 2022 F4 British rookie champion was successful in his conquest and managed to take home a brilliant P2.
Thanks to the very successful weekend in Vallelunga, Ugo Ugochukwu was not only crowned 2023 Italian F4 Vice-Champion, but with 10 podiums and 3 wins, was officially declared the most decorated driver of the championship. The American was in fact, only 28 points away from taking the Italian title home, and massively contributed to Prema Racing’s Team title win.
The future is very bright for the young rising start, which we shall see much more of in the future. Check out the Italian F4’s YouTube channel, to relive the emotions of the last round of the championship!
