Double Podium in Dubai for Doohan
Jack Doohan has finished on the podium in two of three races at Round 2 of the F3 Asian Championship in Dubai.
Race 4 - Position 1
Doohan began the opening race at Dubai Autodrome from P3, thundering past Nikita Mazepin for P2, and immediately began challenging Ukyo Sasahara for the lead as the field plunged into Turn 1.
Doohan was pushed off track in the battle with Sasahara, who was penalised 3 places on grid for the next Race.
The Australian rejoined and remained in P2, but on the final lap of the race at turn 14, two corners before the finish line, Doohan and Sasahara touched wheels and came together.
Doohan crossed the line first for the race win, despite his 5-second penalty for contact at turn 14.
“I got a good start, not good enough to take the lead. The pace was still pretty decent but I didn’t have the pace some of the other cars had. From there, their pace started to drop away and I was able to put some more pressure on the leader. I made a little mistake with six laps to go which pushed me a bit wide and lost me some time, but I was able to catch back up and had a bit of a fight in the last few laps.”
Race 5 - Position 3
The second race of the round was delayed by 40 minutes due to a rare change in the weather as rain fell at the Dubai Autodrome.
Doohan took off from the second row of the Grid in P4, but dropped into to P11 on the opening lap, falling victim to aggressive wheel spin.
The Red Bull Junior climbed back through the order into P7 before the halfway mark of the 30-minute race and from there, put in an excellent drive during the final laps to take the final podium position before the chequered flag.
"Race 2 was wet and I got a lot of wheel-spin off the line. It was strange, my grid slot seemed to have a lot of rubber, I just didn't go anywhere. I dropped back to 12th but in the second half of the race we really had pace, the car was working well and once I found space I could lap a couple of seconds quicker than anyone. By the end of the race the car was in its element and I passed 2 on the final lap to take 3rd."
Race 6 - Position 11
Doohan lined up in P5 for the final race and had a great start, jumping 3 positions into P2 by the first corner.
10 minutes into the 30 minute Race, Doohan passed Jake Hughes for the lead up the inside, but the Australian was spun off track and dropped to P13.
Hughes later received a 5-place grid penalty for the opening race at Round 3 due to the contact.
Doohan was able to climb into P11 and salvage some Championship points and remains second in the Overall Standings.
"I had a good start again in Race 3, got into third then took second around the outside in turn 3 and the car was working well. I had the advantage on Hughes and set him up for the pass into Turn 1. He didn't defend on the run down to the corner, I went past inside and as I did he turned into me, hit my rear and spun me around. It's a shame he did that, he's been penalised for the next race. I was back to 13th by the time I got going again, I made up a couple of places but with a bit of car damage and tyre degradation I couldn't do any more. So we didn't come away with all the points we should have but it was good to have the win, the podiums and the pace. I have just got to stay out of the way of the Hitech cars next time."
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
- 1 - Joey Alders, Blackarts Racing - 126 points
- 2 - Jack Doohan, Pinnacle Motorsport - 89 points
- 3 - Nikita Mazepin, Hitech Grand Prix - 74 points
- 4 - Devlin Defrancesco, Absolute Racing - 65 points
- 5 - Sebastian Fernandez, Pinnacle Motorsport - 48 points