Doohan grabs F2 pole at Yas Marina as title contenders struggle

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan stormed to pole position for the final Formula 2 round of 2023 at Yas Marina Circuit as the title contenders struggled.

Having already set a laptime good enough for pole, the Alpine junior improved again for good measure on his final tour to lead ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins by 0.224 seconds.

Martins’ championship-leading team-mate Theo Pourchaire was 0.646s slower than him, and will start both races from 14th on the grid, subject to any penalties being applied.

Title rival Frederik Vesti ended up ninth as Prema endured a difficult session, while DAMS’s Ayumu Iwasa dropped out of title contention by failing to secure the additional two points awarded to the polesitter.

After the initial flying laps, it was Martins at the top of the times, 0.23s ahead of Doohan, with the Campos Racing pair of Ralph Boschung and Kush Maini in third and fourth.

Iwasa briefly moved up to third, before being pushed back to fifth as Maini and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Richard Verschoor stepped up the pace.

Martins improved, setting a 1m36.351s to go 0.57s clear of Doohan. Pourchaire was already languishing down in 14th, at that point 0.8s slower than his team-mate, as the field returned to the pitlane to prepare for their second runs.

Drivers re-emerged with 10 minutes to go, and Iwasa managed to find space on the crowded circuit. The Red Bull junior posted was fastest in the first and third sectors and took provisional pole with a 1m36.085s laptime, edging the improving Martins behind by 0.008s.

Pourchaire was struggling in traffic, just avoiding a collision with Trident’s debuting Paul Aron, and could only manage to go seventh fastest before being shuffled back down the order.

Rodin Carlin’s Zane Maloney was routinely fastest in the second sector, enabling him to briefly get up to third.

However, the man who had timed his run to perfection was Doohan, who set a 1m35.703s to go fastest. On his final lap he improved by a further 0.136s.

Maini had been the second driver to record a sub-1m36s laptime on his ninth lap, but qualified third as Martins improved once again to form an Alpine Academy lockout of the top three places.

Maloney qualified fourth, ahead of Iwasa and MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger. Verschoor held onto seventh, ahead of Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar.

Vesti and team-mate Ollie Bearman were never able to get on terms with the pace-setters. Vesti salvaged ninth and with it a front-row start for the sprint race, while Ferrari junior Bearman was a lowly 17th.

Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipalid qualified 10th to get reversed-grid pole for the sprint race.

Debutants Franco Colapinto and Aron qualified 20th and 21st, ahead of PHM Racing’s Josh Mason.

Qualifying results