Doohan went off at the infamous Degner section on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – hitting the wall on all three occasions.
In the first instance, his car went backwards into the wall at Degner 2 (Turn 9) before nosing into the same barrier in the second and third instances.
Doohan was one of three drivers to test with Kondo Racing, joining ex-Formula 2 driver Luke Browning and Teppei Natori.
The ex-Formula 1 driver is still contracted to Alpine, precluding him from speaking to the media at the Suzuka test.
However, Kondo Racing factory manager Nobuaki Adachi commented on the incidents after the third day of testing, offering the Australian some solace.
“Both Luke and Jack performed very well,” Adachi told Motorsport.com.
“It just so happened that Jack had a series of crashes, but he is a driver with a lot of potential.
“Suzuka at this time of year is very difficult, and I think he’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments to ensure it doesn’t happen again next time.”
The third crash came at the end of Friday morning’s session. Kondo Racing repaired the car in time for Doohan to finish the afternoon session on track.
“I think it would have been heartbreaking for him [not to finish the test on track], so we did everything to get him back out on track,” said Adachi.
“We really wanted him to leave not having a bad impression, and somehow we were able to do that, which I am happy about.”
テスト3日目、ドゥーハン、デグナー1でクラッシュ。
まさかのデグナー皆勤賞。
やってしまった。またインの縁石に弾かれた。
これはもうトラウマものですよ…#SFormula #SFgo pic.twitter.com/lLNF2BQwXR— 夕べ (@mugi_yakan) December 12, 2025
Friday’s running was reserved for rookies. Doohan was seventh of the 13 drivers on a 1:39.378s in the morning session, 1.608s adrift of TOM’S driver Ugo Ugochukwu.
Despite limited running, Doohan improved in the afternoon with a 1:38.350s to be 1.488s behind Ugochukwu.
It’s expected that Doohan will join Kondo Racing in 2026 alongside Browning.
As yet, Kondo Racing has not revealed its line-up. Its 2025 line-up of Kenta Yamashita and Zak O’Sullivan have moved across to KCMG and Impul respectively.
Discussion about this post