After four weeks of racing across four different circuits around New Zealand, Ugo Ugochukwu has been crowned the 2026 Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy (CTFROT) Champion. He sealed the title with M2 Competition following a dominant campaign that included four race victories.
The American wrapped up the championship after the 70th New Zealand Grand Prix, where he finished P9. Despite the modest result, the points he accumulated across the earlier races proved sufficient to secure the Trophy.
Reflecting on the achievement in his post-race interview, Ugochukwu admitted the race itself felt longer than usual as he focused on doing exactly what was required to clinch the title.
“Yes, amazing feeling, honestly, to cross the line. The race felt way longer than usual. But yeah, just happy to get it done, get it over with and get the championship.”
Leading from the front for his campaign
The CTFROT 2026 championship triumph followed a 4 week stint in which Ugochukwu and M2 Competition emerged as the benchmark, with the American quick to acknowledge the role his team played throughout the campaign.
“It’s been a really good campaign, really good season. Yeah, I can’t thank the whole team enough. They’ve done a mega job all year.”
“And I’m happier for them than even for me. And just big thanks to them for putting their trust in me at the beginning of the season.”
Ugochukwu laid the foundations for his title challenge early, asserting himself from the opening round at Hampton Downs, where he took pole position in Qualifying 2 for the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup. He then secured the Race 3 victory, and had a lights to flag victory in Race 4 for the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup. This established his momentum, which continued through the rest of the summer series in New Zealand.
“Yeah, definitely Hampton Downs was the perfect start, let’s say, and gave me a nice advantage just to build into for the rest of the season. And yeah, we had good results after that as well. At the end, today was just about getting the points that we needed and bringing it home.”
Disaster in qualifying at Highlands
During qualifying on Saturday morning, Ugochukwu sat near the top of the timesheets until disaster struck in the closing moments of Q1, when a front-left suspension failure halted his momentum before Q2 began.
While the rest of the Q2 runners headed back out on track, the M2 Competition crew worked frantically to repair the car and succeeded in sending Ugochukwu back out in Q2, allowing him to progress into Q3.
However, the team released the car without wishbone covers and Race Control deemed it unsafe. As a result, officials disqualified Ugochukwu from both Q2 and Q3, relegating him to P13 on the grid for the New Zealand Grand Prix.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been easy. Of course, we all got lucky in Q1, which was a shame because I would have loved to fight for the New Zealand Grand Prix as well. We had a good opportunity starting in P2.”
“But yeah, I had to put it behind me and look at the big picture and at least get the championship, and that’s what we did.”
Support across the series
Ugochukwu also paid tribute to the support around him during the 2026 CTFROT series, particularly his mother, who attended every round of the series throughout the champions four-week campaign.
“Oh yeah, it’s been really good, of course. These four weeks, lots of high moments, but then you have the lows, but you have to recover from that, and that’s what I managed to do, so I’m sure she’s really happy right now.”
With the CTFROT 2026 title secured, Ugochukwu’s season stands as one of the most complete campaigns in recent years. He will compete with Campos Racing in FIA Formula 3 for his second season in the series.
