Jack Doohan closes championship battle in wet conditions at Spa

Jack Doohan has walked away from the Belgian Grand Prix with two further wins in the FIA Formula 3 Championship™. The Trident driver has had his most decisive race weekend of the season, which has seen him move 38-points closer to the top step in the championship.

In Race 2, Doohan led a Trident one-two ahead of David Schumacher, and Logan Sargeant, who crossed the line behind the Safety Car after a late crash between Calan Williams and Amaury Cordeel escaped unscathed.

Even though the rain stayed away until the final laps, the drivers were still forced to overcome slippery conditions on a wet track, with visibility remaining at a premium.

Caio Collet and Clément Novalak moved up a place to complete the top five after a sloppy start from Alex Smolyar, who fell from third to eighth in the opening lap, finishing behind Frederik Vesti and Victor Martins.

Championship leader Hauger made up four positions to ninth, overtaking Arthur Leclerc in the closing stages to claw back two points from Doohan.

"Drier conditions than this morning, and I have to say that visibility was a lot better from pole. I got a decent start, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was, but I was happy with the getaway. From there, I was managing the rears because that is where I was quite quick early on," Doohan said after the race.

"I didn't want to be too high on the pressure and then the other guys come at me at the end, so decided to be quite conservative. But when the Safety Car came out, our tyre pressures could all lower again.

"Overall, I'm very happy. I would have preferred to win a full race and not finish behind the Safety Car, but I will take the points – game on for tomorrow."

HE KEEPS ON DOO-ING IT! JACK DOOHAN WINS AGAIN!!!

Another superb performance in the wet from the @trident_team driver 👏👏👏

He leads Martins (P2) and Smolyar (P3) over the line 🏁#BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F3 pic.twitter.com/vqkKvWqZE7

— Formula 3 (@FIAFormula3) August 29, 2021

Doohan put on a defiant defensive display in the rain hampered Race 3 at Spa, holding off Martins and Smolyar to become the first Formula 3 driver to win twice in a single round with his third victory of the season.

The battle between Doohan and Martins will continue to bubble away even after the chequered flag, with the Frenchman at one point passing the Trident driver off the track. Martins argued that he'd been forced wide but was ordered to hand back the position.

After taking the lead, Doohan didn't make the same mistake twice, holding off Martins for the remainder of the race and clinching a vital victory for his title bid. The Australian is now just 25 points off Dennis Hauger, who had entered the weekend with a 63-point advantage.

After Qualifying back in 14th, Hauger's goal was damage limitation, and the PREMA made up six places to eighth, only slowed down by some dogged defending from Doohan's Trident teammate, David Schumacher, who ended up in ninth ahead of Arthur Leclerc.

Smolyar was out of the battle for first but coolly clinched his third podium of the season, and first since Le Castellet. Caio Collet was unable to challenge him in fourth, finishing in front of Clement Novalak, Frederik Vesti and Logan Sargeant.

"I am very happy, although I didn't have the pace that I would like to have had. We didn't have the same pace as yesterday, but in the end, we got the job done and I adapted as well as I could have," said Doohan.

"Victor had an awesome race and had very strong pace. He was definitely quicker than I was, but luckily, I was able to pull away in the few areas that I was quicker and did enough to keep the gap. I am very happy and off to Zandvoort now.

"The gap to Dennis (Hauger) is definitely a lot better than 63, but there are two rounds to go, and my aim is to be in front of him. We are going to keep pushing as hard as we can."

Dennis Hauger retains his Championship lead but is now just 25-points ahead of Doohan, with Vesti in third on 101 points.

PREMA Racing is first in the Teams' Championship with 290 points, ahead of Trident on 274. ART Grand Prix is third with 202.

Drivers don't need to wait long for the next race, with the season continuing next week in Zandvoort for the penultimate round.