Jack Doohan on pole for FIA Formula 2 opener in Bahrain
Jack Doohan will start the FIA Formula 2 opener on pole position after a brilliant qualifying lap in Bahrain.
Jack Doohan took pole position for the FIA Formula 2 opener in Bahrain. (Virtousi Racing/Dutch Photo Agency)
All twenty-two drivers were eager to get out onto the Sakhir circuit as the green flag fell, but running was quickly halted when Ayumu Iwasa's DAMS came to a halt on track.
When the session resumed and all drivers had set a flying lap it was Jake Hughes who led Doohan at the top of the standings with a time of 1:41.469.
The field filtered back into the pit lane to reset, but Virtuosi Racing decided to go against the grain, sending Doohan back out onto an empty track.
Doohan set a blistering time of 1:40.542 which was the benchmark for the rest of the session, which simply could not be beaten.
“It was good.,” said Doohan.
“To be honest, it was a little bit of an unknown, we knew we had the potential to do pole but we hadn't really run this trim so far in testing or even in Free Practice.”
“So it was a little bit like going into the unknown but I had the confidence, I had the faith.”
“We committed to a different strategy from everyone else with one push lap on both runs but it worked out and I'm happy to get the pole.”
The Australian said the team was committed to the alternate strategy after Guanyu Zhou had seen success with it last year as a preparation run.
“Last year Zhou ran in the gap on his first set and then was together for the last set.”
“But we hadn't run that sort of trim before if we needed to make an adjustment between the gap and the second run we didn't really have time.”
“We decided to go together and in the gap, which meant there was quite a waiting period for the remainder of the session, but we committed to it even after run one where everyone was improving on the second push, so my engineer was questioning whether we could still just do one lap, or to wait and do the two.”
“We committed to it and luckily it worked out.”
Jack Doohan on-track for pole position in Bahrain. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
Théo Pourchaire was second fastest and will start on the front row for the feature race alongside Doohan, with Jüri Vips in third.
Fellow Aussie Calan Williams was twelfth fastest.
Kiwi Liam Lawson qualified sixth, with countryman Marcus Armstrong in thirteenth.
The FIA Formula 2 season gets underway with the reverse grid sprint race on Sunday at 3.40am AEDT before Doohan starts on pole for the feature race at 9.40pm AEDT.
Catch all the action live on Kayo Sports in Australia or Spark Sport in New Zealand.
