Jack Doohan backed up his cameo performance in opening practice for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with pole position for his final Formula 2 start.
Doohan was in action for Alpine during the first F1 session of the weekend, performing rookie duties in place of Esteban Ocon.
Immediately after climbing from the A523, he was thrust into Formula 2 qualifying for his final weekend in the competition.
He duly delivered pole position ahead of fellow Alpine Academy members Victor Martins and Kush Maini.
“Good final round of F2 for me, so it’s a great send-off for my last qualifying of this championship,” Doohan said.
“Run 1 was quite strong, it was a very short turn over time from FP1 in Formula 1. The team made it so comfortable and seamless.
“Straight away I felt very comfortable with the car and Run 1 felt good. It didn’t feel at the limit which was quite nice because last year I was way too quickly at the limit, and I didn’t transition in Run 2.
“It was good to be able to go into Run 2 and take a good step forward and end off on a high like we did.”
Doohan snagged pole by 0.2s over Martins, and 0.4s clear of Maini in third, to start Sunday’s Feature race – his final F2 race appearance – from pole.
The result comes off the back of the 20-year-old’s fourth Free Practice 1 appearance with Alpine, having had outings in Mexico City and Abu Dhabi in both last year and this.
He ended that session 13th of the 20 runners, with 22 laps to his belt.
“Jack did well,” said Bruno Famin, Alpine’s team principal.
“We had a programme to develop, we started with all the aero measurements, which was very unpleasant always for the young driver who just want to do laps and laps.
“But no, he did well.
“He had a moment with the traffic on track, I that is not his fault, but we’re happy with the work he has done and the team will use it for the other practices.”
Doohan was lucky to avoid a mighty crash when he caught Logan Sargeant dawdling on the racing line approaching the final corner.
The Alpine reserve driver dived to the inside, only for the Williams driver to do likewise, prompting Doohan to report over the radio that he’d “Almost had the biggest accident of my life.”
Sargeant was ultimately reprimanded for his part in the near-miss, while Williams was fined more than $8000 for failing to warn its driver in sufficient time.
With his F1 practice outing behind him, Doohan’s focus for the balance of the weekend now centres of Formula 2.
He’ll start Saturday’s Sprint race from 10th before Sunday’s 33-lap Feature race from pole.
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