Aussie Watch: Doohan in the points, Mansell's late reward
Monday, 5 June 2023
On a back-to-back weekend for FIA Formula 2® and FIA Formula 3® in Spain, two of the quartet of feeder-series Aussies added to their season tallies in Barcelona.
Jack Doohan has recorded his first FIA Formula 2® double-points result since round two of the season in Saudi Arabia in March, the Australian finishing fifth in the F2® Sprint race and sixth in the Feature in Spain last weekend.
The Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver had endured a lean patch since finishing second in the fourth race of the F2® season in Jeddah, but a second-row qualifying result helped to propel him back into the points after last weekend's non-score in Monaco, where a crash while in podium contention caused his car to spectacularly burst into flames.
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Doohan qualified third at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday, which translated to a seventh-place reverse-grid start in Saturday's 26-lap Sprint race. The 20-year-old, who topped the timesheets on two days of F2's in-season test at the same circuit last month, made an outstanding start in wet conditions to pass two rivals around the outside into Turn 3 on the first lap, setting the stage for his fifth-place finish and four world championship points.
In Sunday's 37-lap Feature, Doohan was immediately leapfrogged by Frenchman Theo Pourchaire (ART) and Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) on the first lap to fall out of the podium places, but quickly muscled past the Japanese driver around the outside of Turn 10 on the opening lap.
While he was able to re-pass Pourchaire soon after his pit stop for hard tyres on lap 11, he was later overtaken by Frenchman Victor Martins (ART) and championship leader Frederik Vesti (Prema), who both ran a longer first stint of the race on hard tyres before switching to the softs for the final 10 laps.
Doohan eventually came home in sixth position, 17 seconds behind race-winner Oliver Bearman (Prema), and gained one place in the championship standings to 12th with 40 points after 12 races of the 26-race F2® season.
In FIA Formula 3® action in Barcelona, Campos Racing's Christian Mansell scored points for the third time in eight races this season, the Australian finishing in 10th place in Sunday's 25-lap Feature race won by his teammate, Spain's Pepe Marti.
The 18-year-old qualified 16th after recording an identical lap time to Campos teammate and compatriot Hugh Barter (1min 28.324secs) on Friday, Barter starting 15th after recording his lap before Mansell matched it to the thousandth of a second. The pair were equally matched across Saturday's 21-lap Sprint and Sunday's feature too, dicing for much of the 25-lap main race before Mansell made a decisive move for 11th at the first corner of the final lap.
Mansell then inherited 10th place when Danish driver Oliver Goethe (Trident) was assessed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Gregoire Saucy (ART) on lap 19.
Sunday's good fortune for Mansell made up for his bad luck on Saturday, being taken out of the Sprint race by Monaco Feature winner Gabriele Mini (Hitech) while running in a potential points-paying position. Mansell moved up to 17th place in the standings with five points after Spain, his previous four points coming at Albert Park in April.
Barter crossed the line in 12th place in the Feature but was demoted to 13th after a five-second penalty for breaching track limits. The 17-year-old was penalised in Saturday's Sprint too for leaving the track at Turn 1 and not re-joining the circuit as per the race director's instructions at the following corner, Barter eventually classified in 19th place as the wait for his maiden points continues.
The third Australian in F3® action, Van Amersfoort Racing's Tommy Smith, was 18th in the Sprint and 23rd in the Feature from 22nd on the 30-car grid, Smith also copping a five-second penalty for a track limits breach in Sunday's Feature.
Both F2® and F3® will be back in action in Spielberg at the end of the month, with both categories on the undercard for the Formula 1® Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring (June 30-July 2).
