Australian teenager Jack Doohan has given his Formula 3 championship title hopes a huge boost with back-to-back race victories at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
The 18-year-old son of motorcycle racing legend Mick Doohan thrived in the wet conditions, slashing Norwegian Dennis Hauger’s championship lead as he sits second with two rounds remaining.
Starting from pole on Sunday, Doohan made the most of the better vision up front as he backed up Saturday’s win and he now has three victories for his Trident team in his second season in Formula 3.
He was passed briefly by a hard-charging Victor Martins but the Frenchman was directed to drop back to second as he had gone completely off the track in making the pass.
Hauger could only finish eighth as Doohan claimed the maximum 25 points to be just 25 behind the Norwegian (158), having arrived at Spa-Francorchamps a distant 63 points behind.
All of Doohan’s wins have come in wet conditions but he acknowledged he was under a lot of pressure from runner-up Martin in Sunday’s race as he did not have the tyre grip he had the previous day.
The seven-round championship – with three races per round – next heads to Zandvoort near Amsterdam for round six from September 3-5 before the season finale in Austin, Texas on October 22-24.
“I wouldn’t say I am nervous (about the title race),” said Doohan.
“We have just got to take the same approach and do the best possible job that we can.” Â
AAP
