The Rodin Carlin driver, making his return to F3 at Macau this weekend in a bid to claim an historic third win, was shunted into the wall at Lisboa on lap two of the qualification race on Saturday after his Trident rival made an optimistic dive down the inside.
The incident pitched both into the tyre barrier, and means that Ticktum will start on the back row of the grid for the main grand prix on Sunday.
Speaking after the race at the lost opportunity, having felt he could make progress from his original 13th spot on the grid, Ticktum believed that Ugochukwu’s error was needless – and something that is typically expected from drivers racing in more junior categories.
“He just outbraked himself and put me in the wall,” said Ticktum. “It’s a shame. A win was a long shot, but I was already up to 10th or 11th, so with a couple more overtakes and a good start tomorrow I reckon I could have been top five easily.
“I’ve just come back from the stewards and watched the on-board, and he came from a long old way back.
“He was trying to overtake my team-mate [Zane Maloney], he wasn’t trying to overtake me, but if I wasn’t there, he would have just ended up in the wall anyway. He misjudged it.
“It’s a mistake that happens, but there are some relatively inexperienced drivers, especially here at Macau, and mistakes like that in my opinion shouldn’t happen at this level.
“F4, I get it, when you are just 15 or 16 years old. Obviously, some drivers are inexperienced, but I just don’t think that kind of mistake should happen.”
Source: Autosport