Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan admitted that his team faced difficulty choosing a set-up direction for the damp Sprint Race at Round 7 of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Doohan excelled in wet conditions in the FIA Formula 3 Championship last year, winning a rainy Feature Race at Circuit Paul Ricard and two of the three rain-soaked races at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on his way to second in the championship.
Now racing in Formula 2, Doohan has shown that his wet-weather prowess isn’t exclusive to the F3 package.
Doohan started fourth for the Sprint Race at Silverstone, but his pace quickly became apparent, especially in the first sector.
He hunted down and passed Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips for third at Turn 3 on Lap 5, then executed similar moves on Jehan Daruvala and Enzo Fittipaldi on each of the next two laps.
With the latter overtake, he assumed the lead of the race, which he held until the chequered flag, even though Ayumu Iwasa inched closer and closer in the dying laps.
When asked by InsideF2 about his preparation for the conditions, Doohan admitted that Virtuosi faced some uncertainty in how to set up his car. Ultimately, though, the team’s choices proved successful.
“Wet or dry, I think, [it’s] something that I’ve tried not to [have] take up too much headspace. It’s the same as everyone else,” started the young Aussie.
“It started to rain just as F1 qualifying started, so [we had] a bit of limited time, and we didn’t really know if it was going to end up drying or continuing to rain.
“It was quite difficult for the boys to know what direction to go in with the car, but in the end, we did quite a good job.
“Maybe [we] could have dropped the pressure slightly more just to enable us to have a little better tyre life in the race, but in the end, we were able to win
“I don’t think we can be too disappointed. But we always have to look back and see what we could do better.”
Doohan will begin Sunday’s Feature Race from P7 and will look to repeat his podium-reaching ways.
Image Credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
