Pourchaire seals F2 title as Doohan wins Abu Dhabi finale

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire clinched the Formula 2 title in the season-closing feature race at Yas Marina, as Jack Doohan took a dominant victory.

Fifth was enough for Pourchaire to become champion after losing out in a late battle with title rival Frederik Vesti, who finished third despite a final-lap clash with Rodin Carlin’s Zane Maloney.

Doohan led away from pole at the start as fellow Alpine junior Victor Martins was slow away from second on medium compound tyres and lost out to the soft-shod Kush Maini.

Ayumu Iwasa also tried to challenge Martins into turn one but then ended up side-by-side with Dennis Hauger on the exit. Maloney recovered from a slow start to try to reclaim fourth from his two fellow Red Bull juniors, with Iwasa holding on to the position later in the lap despite running off track.

Vesti prevailed in a lap one squabble with Richard Verschoor to move up one spot to eighth, while Pourchaire climbed from 14th to 11th behind Vesti’s team-mate Ollie Bearman, who had made a great start from 17th.

Doohan used his soft tyres to pull out an early 2.5-second lead over Maini, with Iwasa and Pourchaire the first drivers to head for the pitlane at the end of lap six to change from soft to medium tyres.

Maini and Bearman came in next, with Pourchaire quickly moving past Bearman, who would eventually retire with suspected engine issues.

Maloney, Hadjar and Hauger made their mandatory stops at the end of lap eight, with Doohan then coming in from the lead. That left the still-to-stop Martins with a six-second lead over Vesti, who closed the gap by two seconds over the next eight laps.

Vesti ran his medium tyres until the end of lap 22 before switching to softs, emerging behind Pourchaire in ninth. Martins pitted two laps later and rejoined six seconds behind leader Doohan.

The title rivals were soon involved in a feisty scrap. Vesti got a great run on the approach to turn six and attempted a wild double overtake on Pourchaire and Maini, the latter running off the road and remaining ahead.

Having lost out to Vesti, Pourchaire swiftly fought his way back past, the pair just inches apart. Pourchaire then squeezed by Maini at turn 13 despite being run out of road, with Vesti dispatching of Maini a couple of corners later.

Vesti and Pourchaire continued their battle over the next two laps, with Vesti eventually sweeping by on the run to turn nine to climb to fifth. The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior passed Iwasa with four laps to go before chasing Maloney for third. On the final lap, Vesti tried a move around the outside turn nine, with contact causing Maloney to spin down the order.

Doohan finished 3.9s clear of Martins for his third win of 2023, while Vesti completed the podium a further 15s behind. Iwasa was fourth ahead of an emotional Pourchaire.

Iwasa’s DAMS team-mate Arthur Leclerc came home sixth, with Hauger and Hadjar close behind. Maini finished ninth, with Hitech GP’s Jack Crawford the final points scorer in 10th.

Josh Mason, Verschoor and F2 debutant Franco Colapinto joined Bearman in retirement.

Race result (33 laps)