Photo courtesy of McLaren
New Yorker Ugochukwu joining NEOM McLaren for Formula E rookie test
NEOM McLaren has confirmed its lineup for the Formula E rookie test following the Berlin E-Prix next week, with Ugo Ugochukwu and Grégoire Saucy both getting outings for the team.
New Yorker Ugochukwu (pictured above) has been a member of McLaren’s driver development program since 2021 amid a stellar karting career, and is this year dovetailing a full Formula Regional European Championship campaign with select events in the GB3 championship. He’s already sampled Formula E in the virtual world, on the simulator at the McLaren Technology Centre, but this will mark his first time in the real car.
“I’m looking forward to the Berlin Rookie Test in May with the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team,” he said. “It’s an amazing opportunity to take the Nissan e-4ORCE 04 to track and I’m grateful to be given this chance through the McLaren Driver Development program. I'm excited to learn and develop my driving further with a new category of car.
“I'll be working closely with the great team at Bicester and MTC in the build-up, getting prepared for the test and making sure I'm as prepared as possible to help the team.”
Swiss driver Saucy was another karting prodigy, who won the Formula Regional championship in 2021, and now races in the World Endurance Championship for the McLaren-aligned United Autosports team. Like Ugochukwu, he’s had time in McLaren’s simulator, but the Berlin test will be his first time in a Formula E car for real, and it will mark his return to single-seaters after his transition to sports car racing.
“I’m really excited to start this new challenge,” he said. “I’ve been driving single-seater cars up until last year, before changing direction for this season, competing in GT3 and LMP2, so it will be nice to step into a single-seater again.
“I want to thank the NEOM McLaren team for this opportunity. I’m looking forward to discovering Formula E first hand. See you in Berlin.”
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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