Doohan Robbed of F3 Asian Championship
Unbelievable misfortune took the F3 Asian Championship from Jack Doohan at the final round in Buriram, Thailand.
Race 13 - Position 8
On a mission to chase the Championship title, Doohan shot off from pole in Race 1 and was in a class of his own, flying away from the field much like he did the round prior.
Doohan's lead advantage went beyond 6 seconds even as the Australian eased off towards the end of the 30 minute Race.
On the last lap a cloud of smoke arose from the right rear tyre which had blown out just before the checkered flag and Doohan was forced to struggle to a P8 finish.
Following Race 1, GITI Tyres and the Championship organisers reduced the race time to 22 minutes due to safety concerns with many tyres blistering and failing throughout the Race and the Free Practice session prior.
Race 14 - Position DNF
Despite the devastation from Race 13, Doohan was still a mathematical possibility of taking the title with 2 races remaining.
Doohan sat on Pole for Race 2 and again was the class of the field jetting away with the lead, but in a cruel twist of fate the Red Bull Junior also again had a right rear tyre blow out as the flag was being readied.
Race 15 - Position 1
Starting from P4, Doohan claimed one grid position as another car stalled in the pits and tore past Jamie Chadwick on the opening lap, moving into P2.
Doohan pulled away in front on the hunt for race leader Ukyo Sasahara and concluded the Championship with a race win as Sasahara, who beat the Australian across the line, was ineligible for points.
Doohan finished second overall in 2020 F3 Asian Championship on 229 points, 37 from the eventual Champion.
"Not the best end to the season, it would have been six wins in a row, the pace was good all weekend, pole in first Qualifying, not so good in Qualifying 2, fourth. Then leading the first two races and got punctures both times. Not happy... but what can you do. For the last race we used a right rear from Sepang and that worked OK, mind you I was so cautious in that last race, as cautious as I've ever been, I just wanted to bring the car home. There's not a lot you can say really after what happened. The best thing to say is that I have learnt a lot about coping with tyre degradation in this series, I also learnt how to qualify well, that's a good point. So I think those things are going to help me this year in Europe."
F3 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
- 1 - Joey Alders, Blackarts Racing - 266 points
- 2 - Jack Doohan, Pinnacle Motorsport - 229 points
- 3 - Nikita Mazepin, Hitech Grand Prix - 186 points
- 4 - Jamie Chadwick, Absolute Racing - 139 points
- 5 - Pietro Fittipaldi, Pinnacle Motorsport - 96 points