– Ugo Ugochukwu is the Formula 3 champion of 2026 and thus the successor to Ferrari junior Rafael Camara. The American, who previously belonged to McLaren’s junior academy, secured second place in the season finale in Madrid against Audi junior Freddie Slater, who only finished eighth.
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Both drivers entered the last race on the new street circuit tied on points, with Ugochukwu having a clearly better starting position before the finale: He qualified in second place, while Slater had to start from eighth position due to car problems.
The Brit had to finish ahead of Ugochukwu because the Campos driver would have the edge in case of a tie due to a higher number of wins. However, at the start, Slater lost a position to Yevan David (AIX), while Ugochukwu defended his second position.
In lap 5, the Audi junior took back the competitor from Sri Lanka with a bold move on the outside of turn 1, but still faced an almost impossible task on the overtaking-unfriendly track.
Basically, Slater had to hope for a mistake from Ugochukwu, who remained calm behind Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen and did not give him that favor. He crossed the finish line second behind the Finn and was able to celebrate the championship title.
Slater traveled to Madrid with a lead
Slater was actually the favorite going into the season finale in Madrid because he had a 15-point lead over his title rival, but a preliminary decision was basically made on Friday in qualifying. There, the Audi junior complained about problems with his Trident and only managed 17th position in the first session.
The problem from his perspective: This result set the starting positions for the two races on Saturday, so he had to start twice from far back with poor prospects for points, while Ugochukwu had secured fourth place and could enter the two races well ahead of him.
In the sprint race, where the top twelve starting positions are reversed, Ugochukwu was able to gain three points on Slater by finishing eighth, while Slater only finished 18th.
In the evening, the first main race was on the program, held as a replacement for the canceled weekend in Bahrain. There, Ugochukwu closed the gap to Slater by finishing fourth, as Slater had retired after an accident. Thus, both went into the last race tied on points, but the result was almost predetermined.
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In the end, Ugochukwu finished with 159 points, 14 points ahead of Slater (145). With his win in Madrid, Taponen moved up to third place in the overall standings (106). The team classification went to the Campos team.
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