Racing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the #24 Nielsen Racing entry qualified eighth for the 4 Hours of Barcelona.
Ed Pearson and Roy Nissany avoided a chaotic start to the race before handing the Oreca 07 over to Doohan for the final hour.
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Doohan took the team from outside the top five to briefly lead the race.
The Australian’s fight was ultimately for second, and with less than 10 minutes to go made light contact with the #34 Inter Europol car to move into the runner-up position.
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Doohan was on course to claim second place until the final minute when the right rear began to sag.
Despite the damage, Doohan limped across the line to finish sixth.
The team was then demoted to seventh due to an earlier infringement for speeding under the Full Course Yellow, which added 10 seconds to their time.
“The car was strong, drivers and pace were solid and the team did what needed to be done in every single stop,” Nielsen Racing wrote on social media.
“The aim was to gain experience for Jack, Ed, Roy and the team and end up leading for a good portion for Jack’s stint, fighting hard for the win, but again it wasn’t meant to be.
“We will be back in a couple of weeks and aiming higher.”
The race win went to Forestier Racing by Panis trio Esteban Masson, Oliver Gray, and Louis Rousset.
They defeated the Inter Europol Competition entry of Bijoy Garg and Reshad De Gerus by 13.398s while Australia’s Griffin Peebles was third in the United Autosports entry shared with Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley.
The four-hour race was a dramatic one from start to finish. Jonas Reid spun his Proton Competition car at Turn 2 on the opening lap and was t-boned by CLX Motorsport of Georgios Kolovos.
Behind the LMP2 pile-up, there was drama in the LMP3 field as several cars went spinning and were buried in the gravel trap at Turn 1.
With so many cars scattered across the track, the race was red-flagged.
Kolovos was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment where a back fracture was discovered.
“Georgios Kolovos was involved in an incident with two other LMP2 cars during the opening lap of the 4 Hours of Barcelona,” the team said in a statement.
“After exiting the car, Georgios reported back pain and was immediately attended to by the medical team.
“As a precaution, he was evacuated on a stretcher and transferred to hospital for further evaluation.
“Medical examinations have confirmed a fracture of the L2 vertebra. He remains under observation, but is in stable condition and doing well.
“All our thoughts are with Georgios, and we wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
The European Le Mans Series returns on May 3 at Circuit Paul Ricard for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
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