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Ugochukwu enjoying his first few days with Campos after strong Day 2 in Barcelona
Ugo Ugochukwu and Campos Racing had a strong end to the second day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, the American driver leading a 1-2-3 for the team in the afternoon session.
The 18-year-old had been fighting at the front of the field in the early morning Qualifying simulation runs, before ending up 20th in the timesheets.
In the afternoon, race pace was the focus for the Ugochukwu and the majority of the field, before he and the rest of his Campos teammates put on a new set of Hard tyres at the end of the session.
Ugochukwu completed a 1:28.241 to lead Patrick Heuzenroeder by 0.203s, with Théophile Nael in third, bringing an end to a positive day for the team.
“Overall I'd say it's a pretty positive day,” said Ugochukwu. “We tried a few things in the car, and race runs were positive as well.
“It was a pretty good end to the day on the quali run. Pace was really good, so I'd say pretty decent. There are still a few things that we want to improve.
“There's one more day tomorrow to try and find a bit more time. But overall, I'd say a pretty good start to the season.”
When asked what he was looking to improve on specifically across the test, Ugochukwu replied: “I'd say there's always a few things that could be better, could be improved.
“But I think at the end of the day, we're just trying to adapt on each new tyre set just to kind of get the car as nailed down as possible.
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“I think Barcelona is a track that everyone drives quite a lot and the times here are usually quite close in quali. So, I think during these testing days, there's more kind of set-up items being thrown around and trying to find a bit more lap time.
“So when we come here for the race weekend, we're in a good place. But I'd say we went through everything and kind of learned what we had to.
“I think we can be pretty confident that when we come to the race weekend, we can put it all together and be in a good place.”
Looking around the field, Ugochukwu says that while Campos come into the season as the reigning Teams’ Champions, it is hard for them to know where they stack up against their rivals.
With their being plenty of mystery about what each team is testing and the fact that Barcelona is such a familiar venue make it hard to know what the hierarchy in Melbourne will be.
“It’s always hard to say in testing, of course,” said Ugochukwu. “You don't know how much other teams are holding back or not wanting to show. It's always hard to say.
“I think going into Melbourne in FP, we'll have our first true kind of results, let's say. So you know where we stand. But I think it's going to be kind of different.
“But I think each weekend we'll have our strengths and weaknesses. But Melbourne is quite a unique track and it's definitely way less running than we have in Barcelona. So I think until we get there, it's going to be hard to say who's going to be at the front and stuff.”
This is set to be Ugochukwu’s first season racing in Campos colours, and he says so far the tests have helped bring the two sides closer together.
“It's been really good, to be honest, working with the team,” said Ugochukwu. “Obviously I got my first taste back end of last year in postseason, and it’s good to carry that momentum to now, into the preseason.
“I think everyone is working really well. They came off a good end of the season last year. So I think everyone is pretty confident we can go into 2026 with the same kind of results.”
To achieve the results they want, Campos and Ugochukwu have one more day of testing in Barcelona, and they plan to use it to help lay the foundations for what they hope will be a successful season.
The American says he expects to see the same order of events on Day 3 as we got today, with Qualifying simulations at the start of the day, and race runs in the afternoon.
“I definitely expect a few more quali runs and definitely a few more race runs in the afternoon of tomorrow, I think when everyone finishes their tyres,” he added.
“Race run pace is usually a very good indicator when it comes to actually where we stack up, and it's really important on a race weekend.
“So I think we're pretty good on that side and I think we'll see that tomorrow. I don't think much will change. I think it'll be quali runs in the morning, race runs in the afternoon.
“I think we'll just try to maximise it and see where we end up and stack up compared to the others.”