FR World Cup: Ugo Ugochukwu narrowly grabs first pole of the weekend in truncated Macau qualifying

0.014s separates poleman from second-placed Oliver Goethe, Noel León third

Ugo Ugochukwu has snatched pole position by the narrowest of margins ahead of Oliver Goethe and Noel León for tomorrow’s Qualification Race at the 2024 FIA FR World Cup. The McLaren Driver Development Programme member was just 0.014s ahead of the Red Bull Junior in second, with León just 0.191s behind in third.

It was a session peppered with stoppages, as the drivers and teams were faced with an almost completely dry Guia Circuit for the first time this weekend. While there were some damp patches off-line, all the cars went straight out onto the winding city streets on slick Pirelli tyres to set their positions for tomorrow’s Qualification Race.

It was quickly clear that times would be much quicker than in the rain-affected session of yesterday, with Goethe’s provisional best time eclipsed almost immediately. The tone of the session was hinted at early on, though, with a couple of drivers going straight on at Lisboa on their first flying lap but keeping it out of the barriers and continuing.

After the first banker laps the order began to take shape, with the experienced Dino Beganovic initially quickest from Mari Boya and Evan Giltaire. It was to be the SJM Theodore Prema pair of Beganovic and Alex Dunne who would fall foul of the session’s first big off, as the #55 car of Rintaro Sato – son of two-time Indy500 winner Takuma Sato – slid into the barriers between Moorish Hill. The following duo could do nothing to avoid the stricken TGM Grand Prix car, colliding and taking all three cars out of contention.

This incident appeared to start a domino effect at that section of the circuit, as R-ace GP’s rookie racer Tuukka Taponen found his way into the barrier at the exact same place on his first push lap after the red flag.  

After another stoppage to recover the Finnish Ferrari Driver Academy youngster’s car, it became a question of how long Beganovic’s time would stand at the top of the table now he was out of the running.

As the field began to wind itself up again, it was Goethe who knocked the unfortunately powerless Beganovic off top spot first, before León went half a second quicker with 23 minutes left in the session.  

Further red flags caused by crashes at Fisherman’s Bend (twice), R Bend (twice) and the Solitude Esses took the total tally of interruptions to seven, and as a result it was impossible for the drivers to get into any kind of rhythm.

With the pressure mounting to get a good time, León, Goethe and Ugochukwu were trading fastest sectors in the final five minutes. Three minutes were left when the final red flag was thrown, ending the session with the top three locked in.

Ugo Ugochukwu, R-ace GP, said: “That was by far the most intense quali session I’ve ever had. Initially as you said it was the first running in the dry, so it was really hard to know where the limit was. We were just pushing it more and more every lap and to get it at the end I’m super happy, especially on such a special circuit, just having to get closer and closer to the limit, but of course there’s no room for a mistake, and that’s what makes it so special. I’m really happy to be on pole.”

Oliver Goethe, MP Motorsport, said: “If you imagine the session already being so chaotic, for me it was even more! I accidentally set off the fire extinguisher, which added that extra bit of stress, but thankfully there was another red flag to repair the barriers and it gave the mechanics time to fix everything – they did a great job to get me back out, and in the end it was such a crazy session, so many red flags and every lap was so crucial. In the end we didn’t know when it was going to be the last one, and with the track evolving and the drivers improving, we knew that the times would keep getting quicker. Thankfully in the last lap I got a good lap in, but gutted to miss out on pole by that tiny margin.”

Noel León, KCMG IXO by Pinnacle said: “to be honest I’m super happy to be able to run qualifying. I hit the wall hard in the morning and the team did an amazing job to put the car back in one piece. For me it was a really chaotic session, we finished the car three minutes before the qualifying and then in the first run I had a couple of issues. But in the end I’m really happy with my lap – finished P3 and if we see the day, we can be really happy with that. Obviously I’m not so happy, because I made a big mistake in the last corner and almost put it in the wall again, but P3, one tenth off, is pretty awesome.”

A post-session grid drop of three places was handed to James Wharton (ART Grand Prix) for causing a collision with Jin Nakamura (TOM’S Formula).

All drivers were called to a second Drivers’ Briefing following the session, during which the Race Director, together with Single-Seater Committee President and two time Macau race winner Emanuele Pirro, expressed their concerns with some of the driving standards demonstrated during both today’s Free Practice 2 and Qualifying 2. The drivers have been asked specifically to consider their attitude towards this incredible racetrack, particularly as they go out on their opening laps.

The FIA FR World Cup, along with the co-headlining FIA GT World Cup, will benefit from extensive live streaming via the FIA’s official YouTube channel.