Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Ugo Ugochuckwu will race in Formula Regional Oceania at the start of 2026 with the M2 Competition team.
The 18-year-old American will head down under before he embarks on his sophomore FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with Campos Racing, after coming 16th in the standings with two podiums this year as one of Prema’s drivers.
When Ugochukwu starts his FRegional Oceania season, it will be his first time racing without the support of the McLaren Formula 1 team in almost five years as he leaves the McLaren Driver Development Programme at the end of 2025.
“I am thrilled to be able to compete in the 2026 FRegional Oceania Trophy,” said Ugochukwu.
“I’ve been following the championship for many seasons now and I always wanted to be part of it. For that to be 2026, which looks like it is going to be one of the best ever, is even more exciting.”
in FRegional, Ugochukwu has won the FIA World Cup, come third in the Middle East championship and 11th in the European championship.
“I am sure it’s going to be a lot of fun learning the local tracks and in general to compete outside of Europe is always something that brings new challenges as well as new experiences.”
Ugochukwu got experience of another series outside of Europe last week as he tasted top-tier single-seaters in Super Formula’s post-season test at Suzuka.
He went fastest overall, setting the pace by 0.296 seconds and being 0.473s faster than the next driver who was a ‘rookie test’ entrant.
Japanese Formula 4 champion and FRegional Japanese Championship runner-up Tokiya Suzuki and the SF-experienced 2024 Super Formula Lights runner-up Rikuto Kobayashi completed the top three in the ‘rookie test’ classification.
FRegional Europe champion Freddie Slater was fourth in that group and 11th overall, being a total newcomer to the track like Ugochukwu was, and Williams junior Luke Browning was 13th fastest after heading over to the test from the Formula 2 finale as he eyes a step up to SF for 2026.
Super Formula test results [young drivers only]
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ugo Ugochukwu | TOM’S | 1m36.862s | 57 | |
| 6 | Tokiya Suzuka | KCMG | 1m37.335s | +0.473s | 111 |
| 10 | Rikuto Kobayashi | TMG Grand Prix | 1m37.430s | +0.568s | 162 |
| 11 | Freddie Slater | TOM’S | 1m37.480s | +0.618s | 62 |
| 13 | Luke Browning | Kondo Racing | 1m37.523s | +0.661s | 103 |
| 16 | Souta Arao | ThreeBond Racing | 1m37.791s | +0.929s | 127 |
| 21 | Kazuhisa Urabe | INGING | 1m38.065s | +1.203s | 51 |
| 24 | Yuto Nomura | B-MAX Racing | 1m38.177s | +1.315s | 154 |
| 27 | Charlie Wurz | Team Goh | 1m38.588s | +1.726s | 147 |
| 28 | Zachary David | B-MAX Racing | 1m38.783s | +1.921s | 39 |
| 34 | Kiyoshi Umegaki | Rookie Racing | 1m40.219s | +3.357s | 40 |
| 35 | Kalle Rovanpera | KCMG | 1m44.602s | +7.740s | 32 |