Invicta Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan clinched the final pole of the 2023 season in Friday’s Formula Two qualifying session but championship leader Theo Pourchaire had to settle for P14 on a difficult day.
The result means Frederik Vesti will start Saturday’s Sprint race from the reverse grid front row after ending the session in ninth.
Having just finished his F1 free practice session for Alpine at Yas Marina Circuit, Doohan was back behind the wheel in the final F2 qualifying session of 2023 and showed no signs of fatigue with the Australian clocking the fastest time of 1:35.567.
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins, who had earlier topped the morning’s practice session, was the next quickest driver with a time of 1:35.791 while Kush Maini of Campos Racing was third (1:35.976).
For Pourchaire, who replaced Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in the F1 free practice session, he clocked
1:36.437 – a time that put him in P14. However, the Frenchman still finds himself in the driving seat for the championship title with a 25-point lead over Vesti, and Ayumu Iwasa, who took P9 and P5 respectively.
The drivers will be back on the grid on Saturday for the Sprint Race before the season-ending race on Sunday.
