Aussie Watch: Bad luck bites Doohan, F3® duo hit new heights
Monday, 3 July 2023
Jack Doohan was denied a second podium of the year, while Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter earned points in FIA Formula 2® and FIA Formula 3® action in Austria.
Jack Doohan has been unluckily denied a second podium of the FIA Formula 2® season, the Australian finishing in fourth place in the F2® Feature race in Austria on Sunday.
The Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver looked set for at least second place after a superb drive from fifth on the grid in the 40-lap race, but a late safety car caused by the right rear wheel of Arthur Leclerc's DAMS entry coming loose on track on lap 27 saw the drivers who had yet to pit make their stops with the field neutralised. Long-time race leader Frederik Vesti (Prema) and Doohan, his closest pursuer, were left vulnerable when the race resumed for the final eight laps.
Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) benefitted from taking on fresh supersoft tyres for the closing laps, with Doohan passed by the Dutch and Japanese drivers within two corners on the third-last lap to drop to fourth place.
Try as he might to catch a similarly-fading Vesti, Doohan fell three-tenths of a second short to agonisingly miss adding a podium to his second place in Saudi Arabia in the fourth race of the season.
Doohan made a blinding start and was in the podium mix once he passed pole-sitter Victor Martins (ART) and Kush Maini (Campos Racing) on lap two for third place, and made his pit stop to discard his supersoft starting tyres for softs for the remainder of the race at the end of lap nine, re-joining in 13th place.
He then passed Theo Pourchaire (ART) on lap 25 for what was a net second place, with Vesti 4.9secs ahead in seventh and the six drivers ahead of the Dane yet to pit. The pair looked set for a straight shootout for the win, until the late safety car brought the drivers on fresher tyres into play.
In Saturday's 28-lap Sprint race held on a track soaked with pre-race rain, Doohan finished in seventh place after a lap one excursion into the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 4 dropped him to 20th.
He recovered to be seventh before being passed by Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) on the final lap to take the chequered flag in eighth but reclaimed seventh after third-place finisher Clement Novalak (Trident) was disqualified for running with illegal rear tyre pressures.
The 14 points earned across the two races in Austria saw Doohan leap three places in the championship standings to ninth with 54 points.
In FIA Formula 3® action, Australians Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter enjoyed season-best showings in Spielberg, the Campos Racing teammates finishing seventh and eighth respectively in Sunday's 26-lap feature race.
For Mansell, seventh was his best result of his first full season in the series after the 18-year-old competed in four races last year, while F3® rookie Barter scored his first career points in his 10th race in the category.
Starting from 10th, Mansell held position for the first half of the race before moving steadily forwards, while Barter rose to 13th place on lap 14 after qualifying 19th.
A puncture for Spanish driver Mari Boya (MP Motorsport) on lap 18 elevated both Australians into the points, and they each gained another place on the final lap when Colombian Sebastian Montoya (Hitech) ran off into the gravel at Turn 6.
Mansell finished 5.2secs adrift of race-winner Zak O'Sullivan (Prema), with Barter a further four-tenths of a second behind his teammate.
In Saturday's 20-lap Sprint race held in wet conditions and won by Estonian Paul Aron (Prema), Mansell (14th) and Barter (22nd) finished outside of the points. Mansell was unable to capitalise from starting the reverse-grid (for the top 12 in qualifying) race in sixth, while Barter's progress was halted by a 360-degree spin at the final corner on lap five, which dropped him to the rear of the field.
With 10 of the season's 18 races completed, Mansell sits 18th in the F3® championship standings with 11 points, Barter one place behind after opening his season tally with four points.
The other Australian on the F3® grid this season, Melbourne's Tommy Smith, finished 21st in both races over the Austria weekend as the wait for his first world championship points continues.
Both F2® and F3® are back in action next weekend at Silverstone on the undercard for the Formula 1® British Grand Prix (July 7-9).
