Aussie Watch: Doohan does the double, Mansell's masterful second

Jack Doohan has used a recipe of a bold strategy, brilliant driving and a slice of luck to storm to a second FIA Formula 2® Feature race victory in seven days in Belgium, the 20-year-old Australian coming from 11th on the grid to win at Spa-Francorchamps for the second successive year on Sunday.

Doohan, who dominated the Feature in Hungary the previous weekend by winning from pole and setting the fastest lap while leading every lap, had to take the hard road to the podium's top step at Spa.

Friday qualifying in inclement conditions saw him mired in 11th on the grid, catching a bad break when he wasn't able to do dry-tyre lap before rain lashed the circuit, a sixth-row start no reflection of his promise.

The lowly starting position saw the Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver elect to use the yellow-banded medium-compound tyre for the first stint of the race, an alternative strategy which proved to be critical. Doohan gained two places on the opening lap, dispensed of Frenchman Isack Hadjar (Hitech) with a clinical move around the outside of the Fagnes chicane on lap eight, and then moved into the lead on lap 15 as the soft-tyred cars ahead of him made their pit stops.

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Doohan's poor fortune on Friday then flipped, a safety car caused by American Jak Crawford (Hitech) being spun around and left stranded on track neutralising the field, and allowing Doohan to pit for soft tyres and gain 11 seconds of time over his pursuers.

He rejoined behind race-leader Theo Pourchaire (ART) in second place on the faster soft tyres for what became a five-lap run to the chequered flag from lap 21, and made it past the Frenchman at Turn 5 with three laps left, setting the fastest lap of the race (1min 59.871secs) on that same lap and running away to win by 1.9secs.

With 54 of a possible 56 points from the past two Feature races, Doohan is up to fourth in the championship standings with six races remaining this season, 38 points behind series-leader Pourchaire with rounds in the Netherlands, Italy and Abu Dhabi to close out the season.

"I was lucky with the safety car, but I think over the last year I'm due a bit of luck back, so I took it with open hands," a jubilant Doohan said afterwards.

"We were super unlucky on Friday (in qualifying), but then in both races I think we were the fastest car on track. The heavens really opened up for me to have that safety car, and it was a great race.

"I couldn't catch him (Pourchaire) as much as I thought I could in the straights with the DRS, I really had to push in some other areas to get close. And still with that, it was touch-and-go to get past him. It was tight in the end, but glad to get it done."

In Saturday's 17-lap Sprint race, Doohan moved steadily through from 11th to finish sixth, and was promoted to fifth when Dutchman Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort Racing) was disqualified after finishing second for his car using a throttle map that breached F2's technical regulations.

FIA Formula 2® is next back in action at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix from August 25-27.

In FIA Formula 3® action in Belgium, Christian Mansell produced a stunning drive in Sunday's 15-lap Feature race held on a track soaked with rain in the build-up, charging from 23rd on the grid to finish second for the best result of his first full F3 season.

The remarkable result is Mansell's second podium of the year after the Campos Racing driver finished third in the Sprint at Silverstone earlier in July, and came after a madcap race where the podium comprised race-winner Taylor Barnard (Jenzer Motorsport, who started from 10th), Mansell and Barnard's teammate Nikita Bedrin, who began from 18th place.

The podium trio took the gamble that the Spa-Francorchamps track was unlikely to dry across the 15-lap distance, with cold air and track temperatures (13 and 16 respectively) allowing them to preserve their wet-weather tyres despite the rain staying away for the 45-minute race.

After a safety car caused by a heavy crash for Trident driver Oliver Goethe on lap four, the race became a head-to-head battle between Barnard and Mansell. The Australian's best chance came with five laps left when he went side-by-side with the British driver into Turn 5, but Mansell was forced to take to the escape road before re-joining the circuit.

Barnard scampered away for his maiden victory by 1.5secs, but Mansell's career-best showing vaulted the Australian into 12th place in the championship standings with 52 points after his eighth points-scoring result in 16 races.

Of the other Australians in the chaotic Feature at Spa, Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort Racing) finished 18th from 20th on the grid, while it was torrid Sunday for Mansell's Campos Racing teammate Hugh Barter, who finished 22nd from 12th on the grid, the Aussie duo's gamble to start on slick tyres and hope that the track would dry out not paying dividends.

In Saturday's stop-start Sprint race – multiple incidents meant there were not more than two consecutive green flag laps over the 12-lap distance – Barter finished sixth and gained five world championship points after starting from the reverse-grid race pole after qualifying 12th on Friday, while Mansell (19th) and Smith (24th) didn't trouble the scorers.

F3 now takes a break for all of August, the series resuming for its final round on the undercard of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 2-3.