Doohan ends F2 career with victory, Pourchaire champion

Jack Doohan bowed out of Formula 2 in perfect fashion with a sublime drive to victory in the Feature race in Abu Dhabi.

The Australian started from pole and managed the race well to claim his third victory of the campaign.

It was enough to lift him to third in the championship, won by Theo Pourchaire after a nail-biting scrap with Frederik Vesti in the 33-lap encounter.

Victor Martins was second tot he flag and Vesti third. However, sixth was enough for Pourchaire to seal the championship in his third season of F2.

A good start from Doohan left him clear by turn 1, Kush Maini slotting into second and Martins dropping to third.

There was a scrap over fourth with Zak Maloney, Ayumu Iwasa, Dennis Hauger and Isack Hadjar all involved, somehow avoiding contact.

Vesti ended the opening lap eighth, while points leader Pourchaire was only 12th.

Doohan had pulled a 0.9s advantage at the end of Lap 1, extending that by 0.2s on Lap 2.

The race then settled down until those on softs took to the lane from Lap 7.

That saw Iwasa and Pourchaire in, along with Ralph Boschung who was running down the order.

Oliver Bearman was in next time around for Prema, following Maini.

Bearman emerged just ahead of Pourchaire, though a lock-up into the hairpin on cold tyres allowed the Frenchman to drive by on the back straight.

The championship leader then resisted the counterattack to drive home the advantage.

Pourchaire was the fastest man on track, having started on the soft tyres before switching to the mediums.

Race leader Doohan, had also started on softs and had built a 3.8s advantage over Martins out front and was 43.2s clear of Pourchaire who ran 18th after nine laps when he eventually stopped.

That left Martins out front from Vesti, who’d both opted for the medium rubber in the opening stint.

It was therefore a crucial period for Vesti, who needed to build an advantage prior to his stop in an attempt to guarantee a top three finish.

Trailing Pourchaire by 16 points heading into the race, it was the Mercedes junior’s only chance of title glory.

He needed in the region of 35 seconds to stop and rejoin, but sat just 15s clear of Doohan after 12 laps – though 32s away from Pourchaire.

But the Frenchman was not the target. While battling for the championship, Vesti had to finish in the top three.

His focus therefore was on pushing on, building an advantage prior to his stop so he would be in position to capitalise on his final stint, when he’d have a strong tyre advantage.

On Lap 18, Bearman struck trouble, the Prema touring back to the pits, where it stopped in pit entry.

It saw officials close pit entry as the smoking Dallara sat just shy of the all-important line delineating the start of the lane itself.

Making matters worse, the car was stuck in gear, delaying its recovery.

All the while, Vesti was unable to stop owing to the lane closure caused by his team-mate, at a point when he was beginning to lose time to those behind.

Pit entry was opened on Lap 19, despite the car having not been moved.

Those who’d started on the medium tyres began to pit on Lap 20.

Vesti pitted after 22 laps, dropping from second on the road to ninth, one spot back from Pourchaire.

Martins boxed from the lead at the end of the next lap, as did Juan Manuel Correa to leave only Arthur Leclerc yet to stop.

Martins emerged second, 7.8s down on the effective leader Doohan, ahead of a battle for third that quickly included Iwasa, Maloney, Maini, Pourchaire, and Vesti.

Vesti passed both Pourchaire and Maini into Turn 7 on Lap 24, though the Campos driver cut the chicane and maintained the place.

It all got rather fraught through the sweeper and into the hotel section, Pourchaire, being elbowed off the road by the Alpine Academy driver.

Vesti had dropped behind both but the wrong-footed Maini ceded to both the points leader and his nearest rival.

With fresh tyres, Vesti was soon back through on Pourchaire, but again lost out into the sweeper.

It was a critical battle as Maloney ahead pulled clear to the tune of 3.5s at the start of Lap 27. With laps running out and his tyre advantage rapidly diminishing, Vesti’s hopes were fading.

Finally, midway around Lap 27, Vesti made the move and claimed fifth.

But while clear of his championship rival, in reality the title was already gone; Vesti was too far back from the positions that mattered to deny Pourchaire.

A final spanner was thrown by the Joshua Mason, who again proved out of his depth after stalling on the grid.

He pulled to the side on Lap 30 to retire, drawing the Virtual Safety Car in the process.

It was a short interruption, lasting just under a lap, and did not materially impact the race.

There was however one more twist, as Maloney and Vesti made contact half a lap from home.

It briefly launched the Dane who finished third, Iwasa fourth from Pourchaire, Leclerc, and Hauger.

Maloney didn’t get going again following the incident with Vesti, and was ultimately classified 16th.

All the while, Doohan enjoyed a lonely final race in F2 to claim victory, followed by Martins, who made the alternate strategy work well from Vesti and Iwasa.