Jack Doohan takes F3 Asia victory after last lap clash with Ukyo Sasahara

Australian Jack Doohan has won race 4 of the 2020 F3 Asian Championship after a last lap collision cost reigning champion Ukyo Sasahara the race lead.

Ukyo Sasahara was on pole at Dubai Autodrome for the Asian championship’s first foray into the Middle East, with Nikita Mazepin lined up alongside him.

Doohan was on a charge from P3 and was challenging Sasahara for the lead by Turn 1. The Japanese driver was able to hold steady, and the front runners pulled ahead as the field battled away behind them.

Jake Hughes made gains up into fifth, and Jamie Chadwick was in eighth after her P10 start. After five minutes, Hughes was on the tail of Joey Alders, and Doohan was just half a second behind Sasahara at the front.

Sasahara, used to keeping Doohan at bay, held steady, while Mazepin held the final podium position with Alders and Hughes hot on his tail.

As the sun came down and lap times fell Alders stole third from mazepin, and Sebastian Fernandez charged from seventh to fourth.

The final lap saw the drama reach the front of the pack, with Doohan on Sasahara’s tail as the pair went side-by-side through a series of corners before they banged wheels, finally making terminal contact with less than half a lap remaining.

Sasahara was out, and received a three-place grid penalty for Race 5, while Doohan took the race lead and a five-second penalty. His lead over the chasing pack was so great that he retained the win, followed by Alders and Fernandez.

Doohan said “I got a good start, but obviously not good enough to take the lead.”

“The pace was still pretty decent but I didn’t have the pace the Hitech cars had. From there, their pace started to drop away and I was able to put some more pressure on Ukyo. I made a little mistake with six laps to go which pushed me a bit wide and lost me some time, but I was able to catch back up and had a bit of a fight in the last few laps.”

Fellow Australian Tommy Smith finished in P8.