Ugochukwu aiming for maiden F3 win at Spa amidst rise in form with PREMA Racing

24 July 2025

PREMA Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu is targeting his first race victory in FIA Formula 3 and a continuation of his recent impressive form.

The McLaren Development Driver has achieved two top five finishes across the last three races, with P4 in the Spielberg Feature Race a season's best result.

Ahead of Round 8 in Spa-Francorchamps, Ugochukwu says that he is eager to continue on his current trajectory.

“The last two rounds have been definitely a step forward compared to the beginning of the Championship.

“Red Bull Ring pace was really good and at Silverstone as well to be honest, but unfortunately for the Feature Race we made the wrong decision on the tyre strategy, and starting P2, I felt I could have scored a lot of points.

“But we have to look at the positives, and the pace was good. Quali pace was good too, and also in the Sprint Race, I was able to have a good race pace and make a couple positions. So we'll see how it is in Spa.”

Looking ahead to the weekend, Ugochukwu expects the weather to play a big part, with rain expected on all three days. But he is confident that he and PREMA have learnt from their mistake at Silverstone and will be ready for whatever Spa brings.

Ugochukwu says the Silverstone rain derailed an otherwise positive weekend

“It’s definitely a boost for the confidence. I think, for the whole team in general, going to the last three rounds, we still want to finish on a high. So that's what we're focused on.

“I really enjoy Spa. I think it could be a really difficult conditions this weekend, but this time, we'll try to be on top of things, see what things went wrong, and service them and be on top of the track changing, because that's going to be the most important thing.

“It's always difficult, I think you need to adapt specifically to what's happening going to the grid. It looked like it was going to be drying and then rained on the grid, so we had very little time to make the decision.

“But I'm sure it's going to be one of those weekends again, as it always is in Spa. The rain is going to play a big factor, so we'll see. It has been a while since we had proper wet running, so it's going to be difficult to know who's going to be quick. Hopefully pace is good in all conditions.”

Ugochukwu is targeting a maiden F3 victory amidst a purple patch in form

When asked what it takes to be successful at Spa, Ugochukwu, who has previous racing-winning success at the track, said: “I think the track is quite tricky, especially in all the high-speed - you need to be on the limit, and it's difficult with not many laps.

“So, it'll depend on whether FP is dry. I think it'll make it a lot easier for everybody. If the conditions are changing, then I think adaptability is going to be the main thing, looking for the dry parts of the track, being able to get onto the limit really quickly, which is going to be really tricky.”

Following his upturn in form, Ugochukwu is looking to continue fighting at the front, and is hopeful of going one better than he did at Silverstone, by Qualifying on pole.

“That’s definitely the goal going into every weekend. We’ll approach the weekend as we normally do, get on top of things in FP, then see how the feeling is in the car before going full attack in Qualifying.

“Around here, being on Pole isn’t the most important thing, but to get a pole position – we’ve been quite close the last two rounds, so it’d be good to get it here.”