Jack Doohan fended off Frederik Vesti and Clement Novalak to win the final race of the FIA Formula 3 season at the Sochi Autodrom.
The Australian’s victory was contributed by some on-track battles with Novalak but was able to keep the Frenchman behind to help clinch Trident the Teams’ Championship.
Doohan began the race from pole position and maintained his lead over Novalak and Johnathan Hoggard in the top three after the first few laps.
Lap 3 and Hauger was embroiled in a battle with Logan Sargeant for sixth after his attempt on fifth-place Juan Manuel Correa did not go to plan. Sargeant moved in front of both Correa and Hauger on the tour to go up to fifth.
Hauger tried again on Correa into Turn 2 but running wide saw Jak Crawford capitalise and this year’s champion fell down to eighth.
Lap 5 and Vesti overtook Hoggard for third position and started to make a pursuit on Doohan and Novalak ahead.
Further behind, Crawford found his way out past Correa for sixth on the next lap.
Lap 7, which was the most dramatic part of the race, saw Hauger being tipped round by Oliver Rasmussen at Turn 7. Hauger continued but fell out of the points and pitted for new tyres to take the fastest lap points away from Novalak in help of PREMA’s chances for the Teams’ Championship.
Rasmussen was deemed responsible for the collision and was given a ten-second time penalty by the stewards.
The top ten after the first eight laps were Doohan, Novalak, Vesti, Hoggard, Sargeant, Crawford, Arthur Leclerc, Correa, Ayumu Iwasa and Alex Smolyar.
Lap 9 and Novalak went for a move on his team-mate for the lead but running wide through the run-off area of Turn 2 meant he had to give the place back.
At the lower end of the points, Martins gained a couple of positions in one go by slicing past Correa and Iwasa in eighth position on Lap 15.
The next tour saw Hoggard unable to keep Sargeant behind and the Brit fell down to fifth.
Following another battle that saw Doohan repass him, Novalak found himself in the clutches of Vesti. With DRS in the final few laps through the kink of Turn 12, the Danish pilot moved ahead into second.
Doohan was not to be troubled though and took the chequered flag for the fourth time in 2021 to confirm his runner-up championship finish to Hauger.
Vesti came home second ahead of Novalak, Sargeant and Crawford, who got by Hoggard on the last lap to take fifth.
Hoggard was sixth, followed by Leclerc, Martins, Iwasa and Olli Caldwell in the top ten.
Doohan’s win and Novalak’s third place had clinched Trident their first FIA Formula 3 Teams’ Championship, beating PREMA by four points.
With Hauger also crowned Drivers’ Champion on Friday in the first race of the weekend, that wraps up another year of Formula 3.
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