UGOCHUKWU TAKES ON THE STREETS OF MACAU
As the 2023 F3 Macau GP weekend comes to an end, rookie Ugo Ugochukwu heads back home with another milestone achieved. The young American joined the legendary Macau GP line-up as part of Italian team Trident, beside current Formula 2 drivers Czech Roman Stanek and Dutchman Richard Verschoor.
The 16-year-old just came out of a long but very successful season in Europe, graduating as Euro 4 champion, as well as F4 Italian vice-champion, and took on the opportunity to get behind the wheel again last weekend, racing in the streets of Macau.
Despite having little experience with the complex F3 machinery, a very determined Ugochukwu jumped on board of his Mecachrome-engined car for the first practice session on Thursday, and got a first feel of driving around one of the most challenging circuits out there at race pace.
The American entered the first session of qualifying just behind his teammates, planning to record a flying lap early in the session. With such a challenging track layout, red flags are not rare to be displayed around the streets of the Chinese circuit: in fact, the first Qualifying session was interrupted three times, due to a crash. Unfortunately, rookie Ugochukwu was one of the first drivers to encounter issues in the session, but brilliantly managed to stay away from the infamous barriers, and re-join the session as soon as the track was declared to be safe.
The second Qualifying session was also an eventful one for the McLaren Junior: starting the session with great pace, he clocked in a solid chrono, placing himself up in P8 overall. Attempting to improve his times further, the young Trident driver shortly lost control of his car and made contact with the barriers, which left him unable to circulate further.
Starting the Qualification Race in P9, Ugo went on to fight to stay in the Top 10, but with traffic ahead and other drivers pushing hard behind him, that was easier said than done. A sudden clash with Rodin Carlin’s Dan Ticktum put an early end to the race of the American, who was even more determined to put on a solid performance in Sunday’s race.
A start from the last spot on the grid did not leave Ugochukwu any choice, but to fight for a comeback and put some solid moves in, taking every chance to overtake competitors in front – no easy task when racing on a street circuit. The American pushed hard coming back up to P20, when the race was once again interrupted by brutal collision of Estonia’s Paul Aron with the wall, who fortunately came out uninjured.
After the race was resumed, the driver in car number 3 took on the mission to gain some few more places before crossing the finish line. A brilliant P15 finish for him and a total of 14 positions gained, shown once again the determination and relentlessness of this very talented young driver, who has been pushing his boundaries and proving his worth in every championship he raced in.
Make sure to go check out the Main Race’s replay on YouTube, if you haven’t had the chance to follow the action live!
