Doohan it in style: Aussie Jack farewells F2 

Aussie Jack Doohan has farewelled the Fia formula 2 in dominant style, with the Alpine F1 Reserve driver taking his third feature win of the year to finish third in the championship.

It was his sixth F2 win (four features/two sprints) in two seasons for the Invicta Virtuosi team, putting a frustrating year behind him in which he flourished late with three feature wins in five rounds that included back-to-back wins at Hungary and Spa.

“I’m very happy to finish my F2 campaign off with a victory,” Doohan said after the race.

“It was great to get the win, I don’t think the option on the primary tyre was the perfect strategy today so I was happy to then manage the tyre through the crucial middle stint then hang on till the end…luckily I’d saved enough tyre to be able to respond at the end of the race, but in the end it was a steady race win.”

The son of former 500cc world champion Mick Doohan also took sixth in the reverse grid Sprint Race to help him close the gap on the third placed 

It was also a farewell to the Dallara F2 2018 car, with a new generation machine coming to the 2024 championship, whilst Frenchman Theo Pourchaire also tied up the F2 championship in his third full-time season.

Doohan lets us the emotion after taking a in in his final F2 race

Here’s how his final race in F2 unfolded…

For the 33 lap feature Doohan got off to absolute flier in the Abu Dhabi finale from pole, with Kush Maini struggling to keep pace with the Aussie in second over Victor Martins.

The outgoing Alpine F1 Reserve driver held the margin at +1.5 seconds, whilst there was an eye on the Theo Pourchaire and Frederick Vesti, as they fought for the title with the Frenchman holding the points advantage with the two settling into 11th and 8th early on which would award Pourchaire the title if it stayed as such.

Doohan was running the soft tyre, which would degrade quickly, but it gave him the edge early on with his compulsory pit window set to be the key moment.

Iwasa and Pourchaire pitted first for clean air on lap 7, which would really put the title in the Frenchman’s favour if Vesti couldn’t take victory.

Doohan continued with a four second lead and was nearing his pit window with most of the front runners having gone in, although Martins in second wasn’t gaining on him the mediums that he started on.

Doohan lifts his third feature race trophy of the season at Yas Marina

He finally pitted on lap 10, and came out as the highest pitter, +2.318 seconds in front of Maini, before Iwasa took an effective second from him.

By lap fourteen, the #14 Virtuosi driver was the effective leader by three seconds with nine drivers still to pit, whilst Vesti was in second as the fastest on track and going long on the mediums to try for a big overcut, whilst Pourchaire was in effective sixth.

Oliver Bearman retired with smoke pouring out, but thankfully he pulled into the pits to avoid a a yellow, but the pit entry was closed as he got stuck but the race remained green.

By lap 23, Vesti had pitted and came out behind Pourchaire with the title challenge now in vain, and Doohan was nearing his rightful race lead with only Leclerc yet to pit.

Also of importance was the fact Iwasa was running third which would give Doohan third in the championship as consolation, with the #14 now leading again with a mammoth +8.020 lead over Martins.

The two championship fighters were both throwing the kitchen sink for gains which provided gripping entertainment, with some of Pourchaire’s risk the stuff of madness with some outrageous passes to try and force Vesti’s hands as the two passed each other back and forth.

Maloney took Iwasa for third on lap 29, and Pourchaire was close to the title in his third full season, as Doohan was holding 5 seconds still of Martins, whilst Vesti had won the on-track battle with his rival and taken fourth from Iwasa as a virtual safety was called.

The safety ended with two laps remaining, and by the final lap it was Doohan signing his F2 career off by over four seconds, and whilst Vesti took third in the battle with Maloney who spun, Pourchaire finally climbed to the peak of the second tier – the seventh modern champion of the FIA Formula 2 championship.

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