Second place in the Formula 2 Feature race in Saudi Arabia came despite Jack Doohan struggling for confidence this season.
The Australian has endured a tough start to the 2023 campaign, his second in the F1 feeder class.
He left the opening round in Bahrain without points and finished just outside the top eight on Saturday in Jeddah.
With his eyes still fixed on the F2 title at the end of the season the Feature race podium was a key result.
Battling for confidence
“Got some solid points on the board,” Doohan said.
“The top guys in the championship didn’t score so great today so to be able to get a little bit higher up on the board and solidify myself for this year is great.
“I’ve been struggling to really find confidence with the car,” he added.
“We’ve had quite a few fundamental issues so far this season which has been a big shock to the system for all of us because it really hasn’t been in our control.
“Still, coming into today, I didn’t really have any confidence at all, unfortunately, but hoping that with things that we were changing, were going to reinstate that.
“I think we did a good race, we did the maximum we could.
“I don’t think I had the outright pace but to finish P2, finally a little bit of good luck.”
Doohan started well in Jeddah and eyed a move between the pair on the front row, though found his progress blocked.
He then settled into third for the opening stint, dropping to a net fourth behind eventual winner Frederik Vesti following his pit stop.
That became second when Ollie Bearman and Victor Martins both spun within a lap of one another later in proceedings.
Lacked race-winning pace
“In all honesty, I think Fred would have probably come past me on the prime stint,” he said.
“They had quite strong pace and potentially it could have saved a time loss for it happening in the pitstop.
“I’ve been struggling a bit with my brakes over the first few rounds and had a really bad lock up on the out lap on the front right which I would say hindered my pace on the prime quite a bit.
“So then I really struggled to keep with Frederick and then when he overtook Ollie, he had very strong pace again.
“I came back at him at the end of the sprint and we’re not too bad, but I think there’s still quite a bit to work on to make sure that we could have won that race.”
Doohan now sits sixth in the drivers’ championship with 20 points, Ralph Boschung heading the competition with 33.
Formula 2 now heads to Melbourne in support of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix on March 30-April 2.
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