Doohan Fights back in Yas Marina
Jack Doohan has continued his determined pursuit of the F3 Asian Championship in Abu Dhabi with a P2 & P3 finish at Round 3.
Race 7 - Position 2
The F3 Asian Championship visited Abu Dhabi’s magnificent F1 Yas Marina Circuit for the first time, with Doohan's qualifying pace improving as he began P3 for the opening race.
Doohan had a clutch issue at the race opening and stalled at the start, but was able to reset and fight with the race leaders. The Australian had to give up a place for overtaking into P2 and lost position, but was able to pass some cars ahead and finish in P3.
Doohan received 18 points for second place, as the race winner was ineligible for series points.
“Unfortunately, I had a clutch issue at the start of Race 7 which made the start really difficult. I stalled the car on the line and then managed to pump the clutch a few times to get the pressure back a bit and luckily get the car started again, I somehow managed to hold my position! From then on I had a decent pace advantage over the guy in second and was applying pressure, I tried to overtake him but ran wide and had to give the position back, I did have another attempt at making the pass for second but got far too close and had to back out to avoid contact which allowed the three guys behind me to get past so I shuffled back down into 6th position. I regrouped and found a good rhythm and started to pick off those positions one by one and come back through, I continue to push to catch the leaders but just cooked the tyres. But all in all, I'm happy to finish where I did and close up 6 points in the championship leader.”
Race 8 - Position DNF
Starting the second race from P2, Doohan was away like a bullet getting alongside the pole sitter into Turn 1 before veering off track to make the pass and snatch the lead.
However, Doohan was ordered to forfeit the position back to the leader and after a Safety Car restart, Doohan's car cut out on the exit of Turn 7.
The 16-year-old Australian was frustrated as the technical failure put him out of the race and cost him valuable series points.
"We started Race 2 strong a moved into the lead early after Turn 1 but during a safety car period, I was told to give the position back for the lead due to crossing track limits. From then on I focused on putting in consistent laps and managing my tyres, but unfortunately mid-race coming out of Turn 7 the car suffered technical issues which forced me to retire from the race."
Race 9 - Position 2
Doohan began the final race at Yas Marina Circuit from P2 and would eventually finish where he began, managing his old tyres throughout.
Despite the DNF in Race 2, Doohan still remains second in the overall standings on 125 points, 48 points behind the series leader.
"I had clutch issues on the grid which the Pinnacle Motorsport Team attempted to fix, thanks to the team I did manage to get a decent start. I wanted to settle into a good rhythm before making a pass for the lead, but due to some of the guys saving their best tyres for the final race I didn’t really have the outright pace they had but I was able to hold those guys off and finish the weekend with a 2nd! All in all, not the weekend we wanted championship wise but we won’t be giving up, still 2 Rounds and 6 Races to go so anything can happen!"
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
- 1 - Joey Alders, Blackarts Racing - 173 points
- 2 - Jack Doohan, Pinnacle Motorsport - 125 points
- 3 - Nikita Mazepin, Hitech Grand Prix - 124 points
- 4 - Devlin Defrancesco, Absolute Racing - 101 points
- 5 - Sebastian Fernandez, Pinnacle Motorsport - 96 points