No stopping Ugo as American races to first CTFROT win

American Ugo Ugochukwu finally got a win on the board at the first round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy, racing away to take the chequered flag in race 3 at Hampton Downs.

Ugochukwu has been the outright fastest young driver around Hampton Downs on the first weekend of this season’s Trophy, and there was no stopping him as he worked his way up from fourth on the grid and racing home to become the third different winner in three races.

“That was important for us of course and start and starting fourth we had plenty to do,” he said afterwards.

“But I made a mega start, the best I’ve done so far. It was quite tricky moving through to the lead but once I did I just had to manage it. Pace all round has been good and we are getting really good points.”

The grid was formed from the fastest lap times from race 1 and race 2 amalgamated and that left Mexican Red Bull Junior Ernesto Rivera on pole position alongside Japan’s Kanato Le, with Australia’s James Wharton and the very quick American Ugo Ugochukwu lining up on the second row.

It was Le who made the best start, then Ugochukwu and the American immediately started pressuring Le for the lead on the opening few corners. Rivera held on to third, while Jin Nakamura made it up to fourth ahead of Wharton as they crossed the line to start the second lap.

Hitech’s Le had learned much from the first day’s racing and the use of the Trophy’s new ‘push to pass’ system and he used it to good effect as they went down the long straights in the second lap, building a lead of almost a second over Ugochukwu and almost two seconds ahead of Rivera.

Further back it was much closer with Nakamura in fourth, Wharton, Freddie Slater, a fast-starting Louis Sharp, Ryan Wood, Sebastian Manson , Zack Scoular – about to cop a five second penalty for a false start - and Yevan David all nose to tail in the early laps.

Up front, Le was unable to press home his early advantage and by lap six, Ugochukwu – the fastest driver at Hampton Downs on the first weekend of the Trophy – but thus far the one without a win, had narrowed the gap to the leader half a second. By lap eight he was under the rear wing of Le and made a great pass starting on turn 2 and ending on the exit of Turn 3 to take the lead.

Further back Ryan Wood was showing great race pace and was up to eighth and harrying mtec Motorsport team mate Louis Sharp, the latter under investigation for a false start. They spent the majority of the second half of the race locked in combat. Wood survived a wild moment off track on the exit of turn one on lap 12 but was quickly up to speed again, with no loss of position.

The Safety Car came out on lap 13 when Colorado driver Trevor LaTourette – a recent graduate of the famous Skip Barber programme in the USA, beached his TJ Speed with HMD Motorsports entry car at the ‘Double B’ corner – the 3.8km circuit’s most challenging turn and a frequent visiting spot for the recovery vehicle.

The restart came at the start of lap 16 which left three to go and as they sped over the line, Ugochukwu made no mistakes to resume the lead. Further back it was all on between Freddie Slater and Louis Sharp and the young Kiwi was able to pass the Brit, who then got into the marbles and lost even more places, dropping back to an eventual 12^th at the end of the lap.

Intensity throughout the field was huge in the final couple of laps, but there was no stopping Ugochukwu out front as he raced away in his M2 Competition FT60 to win his first Trophy race by a second from Le, Rivera, Nakamura, Wharton, Sharp, Wood, an impressive Manson, Yevan David and rounding out the top ten after another gripping race, Zack Scoular.

2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy R1 Hampton Downs Race 3