Team Drogba Global Africa secured its first E1 victory on Saturday 18th July, claiming the Monaco GP after an afternoon of intense racing in the Principality. While the team celebrated an impressive result, local fans were left wondering what could have been after Team Monaco displayed race-winning pace throughout the weekend before a critical mistake ended its hopes of a podium finish.
After securing its first ever pole position in Friday’s qualifying, Team Monaco entered race day as one of the favorites. Maxime Nocher led the opening race, later setting the fastest lap of Race 1 with a time of 1:15.422, demonstrating the speed the team had shown throughout the weekend.
Difficulties for the home team appeared in the second race after missing the first corner of the mandatory start lap. Although Oban Duncan recovered to fourth on the water, accumulated penalties resulted in a DNF, sending Team Monaco into the Place Race instead of the Finals. The team later finished second in the Place Race to end the weekend seventh overall, falling short of the pace the team had displayed across the weekend.
Reflecting on the weekend, Maxime Nocher told Monaco Life: “There are a lot of emotions, actually. I did everything I could. It’s a bit hard to refocus after a disqualification. We have our first trophy, and it says ‘Monaco’ on it, so we did enough of a job yesterday. We would prefer another today, but this is good.”
The team also welcomed Prince Albert II to the paddock, where he congratulated the drivers and engineers on the progress made in its inaugural E1 season.
Although Team Monaco did not finish with the results they had hoped for, Team Drogba Global Africa delivered a near-perfect performance to secure a historic maiden victory. Tara Pacheco guided the team to victory in the opening Final, before teammate Micah Wilkinson held off Sam Coleman of Team Brady to seal the win. Team Brady finished behind them in second, with Sports.com Predict Team Miami Powered by Magnus completing the podium in third.
Team Drogba celebrated its first victory of the season, with its previous best result being a seventh-place finish at Lake Como. Wilkinson’s performance also earned him the PIF Pilot of the Day award. Speaking to Monaco Life after the victory, Tara Pacheco said: “We definitely knew that we had the pace on the qualifying laps, and today Monaco woke up with flat water and we knew how to perform with the boat on it and we did it.”
These results also moved Team Brady into the overall lead of the standings for the first time this season, leading Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing by Visit Angola by nine points. Team Drogba Global Africa also climbed to sixth in the standings, while Team Monaco now sits in ninth place.
The Monaco GP marked the final European round of the 2026 UIM E1 World Championship before heading to Angola on 12 and 13 September for the next stop of the season.
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Main photo credit: Getty for E1