US racer Ugo Ugochukwu will start today’s International Automobile Federation (FIA) FR World Cup at the Macau Grand Prix (MGP) from pole position, after emerging victorious in yesterday's rain-affected 10-lap qualification race.
The McLaren junior driver started from pole position and held off the challenge from Germany’s Oliver Goethe to lead into the Lisboa Bend on lap 1, before the Safety Car was deployed after Japan’s Sofa Ogawa and Finland’s Tuukka Taponen both clouted the wall at Mandarin Oriental in separate incidents.
When racing resumed three laps later, 17-year-old Ugochukwu got away well and held onto his lead, before the race was red-flagged on lap 6 as rain began to fall, allowing the drivers to change onto treaded tyres before proceedings were restarted under the Safety Car.
Though the Guia Circuit seemed almost dry around Fisherman's Bend and across the start-finish straight, parts of the track nearer Lisboa were extremely wet, and the race ultimately ended without racing conditions resuming, with Ugochukwu first ahead of Goethe and Mexico’s Noel León – all three finishing in the order in which they had started.
"The start was not bad. [Goethe] managed to get alongside, but I was able to keep the lead into T3, which was crucial," said Ugochukwu.
"The first few laps were really good, I got a good Safety Car restart which gave me some gap, and the car was feeling really good in those conditions.
"I was trying to manage the gap as best as possible, and then it started to drizzle, which made things very tricky into the first braking zone, which is already quite bumpy. You have to brake really late, and in those slippery conditions it was even harder.
"I tried to stay within the limit, not [to] make any mistakes and stick it out until the red flag. Then we put the wet tyres on, but there was no restart, so just had to bring it home until the end.
"Really happy with today's [yesterday’s] win, it puts us in a really good position for tomorrow [today], and with how the pace was today, I'm really confident to try to take the win."
Behind the top three, the UK’s Freddie Slater did well to finish fourth from seventh on the grid, while Sweden’s Dino Beganovic and Ireland’s Alexander Dunne were the race's biggest movers, respectively rising from 15th and 18th on the grid to 11th and 13th by the flag.
- Xinhua, MPD
Caption: US racer Ugo Ugochukwu competes in the Macau Grand Prix's FIA FR World Cup qualifier on the Guia Circuit yesterday. - Photo courtesy of MGPOC
