Ugochukwu wins 2024 FIA FR World Cup with faultless weekend
Ugo Ugochukwu has won the 2024 FIA FR World Cup – and the 71st Macau Grand Prix – with a faultless performance throughout the entire weekend. The 17-year-old becomes the first driver from the USA to win this prestigious event since Bob Earl in 1981.
Ugochukwu led from start to finish for R-ace GP ahead of Olivier Goethe for MP Motorsport and Noel León for KCMG IXO by Pinnacle Motorsport in a race that saw multiple safety car interventions.
Since Thursday unpredictable weather has dominated proceedings in Macau, and the last remnants of unusual heavy rain still managed to have an impact on the start of the race, as damp patches on the grid meant that, to ensure sporting equity, race control elected to start the contest with a lap behind the safety car.
At the end of that first lap, polesitter Ugochukwu nailed his getaway just as he had done in yesterday’s Qualifying Race, pulling a gap to second-placed Goethe and ensuring that the German driver had no opportunity to make a pass.
Behind them third-placed starter Noel León went side-by-side with Freddie Slater who started fourth, but the British SJM Theodore Prema driver thought better of making an overly-optimistic move on lap one.
Further down the order and in the middle of the mid-pack mêlée, runner-up in this year’s Formula Regional European Championship, James Wharton, attempted an overtake but went wide on exit and into the barrier, causing a pile up behind with Kai Daryanani, Kanato Le, Tiago Rodrigues and Jett Bowling all stuck and unfortunately out of the contest.
The #17 of Evan Giltaire also clipped Wharton’s stricken car and broke his rear suspension, while the TGM Grand Prix machine of Rintaro Sato ground to a halt further around the lap.
The first and only red flag of the session was thrown to allow marshals onto the circuit so they could unpick the mass of stranded cars at Lisboa, as well as the other cars stopped at various points around the 6.12km circuit.
The race resumed behind the safety car at 15:57 local time, and Ugochukwu delivered his second superb restart of what would turn out to be many during the race. Goethe behind was under pressure from León and Slater, but the drivers all held station in the top order.
It was only one racing lap before the safety car would return to the circuit, this time to allow for the recovery of Liu Riqui’s car that had gone into the barriers at the exit of Police Corner.
Once recovered, it was time for safety car restart number three of the race to manage for the McLaren Driver Development Programme ace out font, and at the third time of asking he again kept his nerve and kept Red Bull Junior protégé Goethe behind on the long run down to Turn 3.
While the top two seemed to be comfortably matched with a gap of around one second opening up after the restart, third-placed León was the man under attack from behind, as he had a huge lock-up into Lisboa and only just kept it on the island. Had it not been for a bit of dampness off-line it’s likely there would’ve been more overtaking attempts made into that famous corner, but as it was once again the top order remained unchanged.
The fourth safety car period followed with four laps left of the 15, as Japanese driver Sota Ogawa ran into strife on the run down to Mandarin corner and left his car stranded in need of recovery.
The pressure once again piled on the leader, and once again he delivered a superb restart and kept the lead. There were just a couple of laps left to navigate, and despite the best efforts of the chasing pack, nothing could unstick Ugochukwu’s impressive composure.
Other notable performances came from drivers starting further back who managed to navigate some of the chaos and make up places despite the stop-start nature of the contest. Mari Boya, who started last, ended up coming through to finish in seventh, whilst young Ferrari Driver Academy hopeful Tuukka Taponen also came through from the back row to finish in the top ten.
Alex Dunne pulled off a couple of sharp moves to climb up from 13th to sixth, while his SJM Theodore Prema team-mate Slater made an all-or nothing move on the final tour to try and snatch third place into Lisboa. The low grip off line caught the British driver out, and he ended his Macau challenge in the barriers.
Ultimately the first running of the FIA FR World Cup in Macau allowed talents to shine, and provided plenty to learn from for the years ahead.
Ugochukwu will be buoyed by his performance as he heads to FIA Formula 3 in 2025 – the American topped every single session of the weekend, and while many others around him were losing their cool and heading into the barriers, he didn’t put a foot wrong to overcome the mighty challenge of Macau.
With this victory, Ugochukwu adds his name to an illustrious list and proved to the watching world that he has the talent and composure to surely see future success in the FIA’s senior single-seater categories.
FIA FR World Cup winner, Ugo Ugochukwu, R-ace GP: “I can’t describe the feeling, of course I’m super happy. It was quite a tricky race, I was pushing the whole way, but I was confident in the pace – ever since Q2 we’ve been really quick, of course we won the Quali race as well, but there was still one more thing to do which was win the main race, and we managed to do it. I can’t thank the R-ace GP team enough – we had a great weekend and yeah, super happy to finally get the job done.”
FIA FR World Cup second place, Oliver Goethe, MP Motorsport: “It’s a bittersweet feeling, I really wanted to win this weekend, I had it in me to win. It came down to the 1 hundredth from qualifying that maybe decided the weekend, but full credit to Ugo he did a great job. I hope to be here again.”
FIA FR World Cup Third Place, Noel León, KCMG IXO by Pinnacle Motorsport: “Obviously when you are the last spot on the podium, everyone behind wants to send it to be on the podium! So, it was a tricky race especially for me in the last two corners. It was super difficult, but I’m super happy to finish on the podium here in Macau.”
FIA President of the Single-Seater Committee, Emanuele Pirro, said: “Overall, this first running of the FIA FR World Cup has been successful. There have of course been some challenges – the conditions since Thursday have made something of a ‘perfect storm’ that meant we had more interventions and crashes than I would like to see, but I think all of us – the FIA, the teams and the drivers, will have a lot to analyse and learn from for when we return next year. Fundamentally, the concept of bringing Formula Regional drivers from around the world together for a one-off event at the end of the year is in the true spirit of the Macau Grand Prix, and it is now up to us to develop the category and the event further.”