6 days Ago
Macau Grand Prix winner Ugo Ugochukwu says he was "definitely not expecting" to dominate the event by leading every lap of both the qualifying race and the main contest. The McLaren junior topped a chaotic qualifying session by just 0.014 seconds over Red Bull Junior Oliver Goethe and proceeded to maintain his advantage for the rest of the weekend.
But, having endured a tricky maiden campaign in the Formula Regional European Championship that resulted in him finishing only 11th in the standings, the R-ace GP driver was surprised to consistently head a World Cup field that featured several FIA F3 frontrunners stepping back to FRegional machinery. "Of course, the goal was to come in and win, but to be P1 since Friday is just great - I was definitely not expecting it," Ugochukwu told Motorsport.com.
"To actually get the job done and win the main race, which is the most important, was a great feeling." The American felt his previous Macau experience - he finished 15th in last year's GP - also helped him avoid some of the errors that befell many of his rivals. "I came here last year, and in the F3, the pace was really good, but I wasn't able to show it well," he explained.
Ugo Ugochukwu, R-ace GP Photo by: Macau GP "A couple too many mistakes, and I think I just learned from that this year, and just managed to put everything together. "I think, with that experience, I was able to build my weekend and just put myself into a really good position." His four safety car restarts were also key as, particularly in the first couple, he was able to pull a sizeable gap on Goethe behind.
Even though the MP Motorsport driver was closer after the final one, Ugochukwu still had a sufficient advantage to prevent Goethe from launching an attack. "I was trying to keep the tyre temperature and then just try to surprise P2 and get just a little bit of a gap," he said. "I think the last two corners came really in handy – we’ve been good there all weekend – so I was able to push the second-to-last corner and the last corner and get a little bit out of the slipstream, which was just enough to not need to defend into T3.
" Goethe, meanwhile, was left to reflect on what might have been - particularly given the tight gap between the pair in qualifying. Oliver Goethe, MP Motorsport Photo by: Macau GP "It came down to the smallest of margins – one hundredth in qualifying around a two-minute-whatever track," he told Motorsport.com.
"It’s incredible and unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the hundredth but it shows how important every little detail is." Goethe also wondered if the outcome could have been different had the race begun with a standing start rather than commencing behind the safety car amid lingering damp patches on the track. "I had a better launch than him yesterday and maybe today I could’ve jumped him," Goethe added.
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble.
