UGOCHUKWU COMPETITIVE ONCE AGAIN AT YAS MARINA
Another race weekend concluded in Yas Marina for the drivers of the Formula Regional Middle East Championship. The fourth Round was by all means a very eventful one, with the many safety cars called in action between the three main racing events of the weekend.
American Rising star Ugo Ugochukwu joined the two qualifying sessions on Friday, with a very clear objective in mind as per usual: clock in some of the fastest chronos, to qualify as high as possible, and place himself in optimal starting positions for the upcoming races. The 16-year-old went out to score a … in the first session, ensuring a third row start for Race 1, and a P5 in the second session, also an optimal position to fight for podiums in Race 2.
The first exit on track on Saturday afternoon was a positive one overall for the Prema-backed driver, who went out starting Race 1 in P6 and managed to keep his position from the beginning to the end, putting on an optimal defensive drive.
The Mumbai Falcon in Car #3 started Race 2 from the third row in P5, of which he profited to cut straight to the chase of teammate Wharton, starting just ahead of him. The American managed to put in a brilliant move in the first lap, and overtake the Australian, just a couple of minutes into the race. Five minutes in though, the Safety Car was called on track, due to a contact between two cars in the back of the field.
By regulations, as soon as the lights of the safety car go out, the race is officially resumed and the track is declared safe to race. That means, drivers are allowed to go full gas once again: unfortunately, the leader of the race seemed to be taken by surprise, and did not accelerate the pace immediately, which cause confusion in the front field. Luckily, Ugochukwu managed to slow down enough to avoid contact with the drivers in front, despite correctly going back up to speed at Safety Car terminated.
With a determined Wharton and David pushing behind, the McLaren junior turned up the pace, and got closer to Bohra, occupying third position. Suddenly, leader Bruno del Pino found himself stranded with a suspension failure, which brought out the Safety Car once again, and promoted the New Yorker up to P3. With only 3:40 minutes to go, he managed to put in a brilliant move on Bohra, and finish the race in a brilliant P2.
The first half of the last race of the weekend saw Ugochukwu have a good start, overtaking Barnard in the first lap, but just a couple of laps later losing the same position to Boya. As the 2023 Italian F4 vice-champion was ready to fight back up the ranks, he was caught in contact with Maschio, and lost his front wing, which marked the end of his race.
He will get a shot at redemption next week, as the grid of the 2024 Formula Regional Middle East grid will move back to Dubai, to fight for the last points of the championship. Make sure to check out last weekend’s races on the Championship’s YouTube channel.
