{"id":601973,"date":"2026-04-12T11:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601973\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T11:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:48:09","slug":"jack-doohan-sets-determined-goal-of-f1-return-ahead-of-sports-car-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601973\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Doohan sets determined goal of F1 return ahead of sports car debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Doohan has revealed his determination to return to Formula 1<\/a>, as the Australian prepares for his first experience of sportscar racing.<\/p>\n

The former Alpine driver was released by the Enstone-based squad<\/a> upon the conclusion of the 2025 season, having completed just six Grands Prix \u2013 as well as the 2024 finale \u2013 before being replaced by Franco Colapinto.<\/p>\n

Doohan appeared to be in a career wilderness, emphasised further by missing out on a drive in the Japanese Super Formula series, having crashed thrice in three days in a test at Suzuka.<\/p>\n

But then came the unexpected announcement that he would be reserve driver for Haas this year, giving him a career reprieve.<\/p>\n

And along with that, Doohan is now confirmed to be racing in the European Le Mans Series, competing for Nielsen Racing in the LMP2 category.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RACER ahead of his debut, Doohan revealed that he cannot wait to get behind the wheel and begin this new venture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all excitement for me,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s not much nervous anticipation. If I wasn\u2019t prepared, I would say so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when preparation is done correctly, there are nerves associated with excitement and the unexpected. But regarding the aspects in my control, I think the nerves are okay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be the factor of doing my first\u00a0live\u00a0driver change, there are firsts coming from F1 and F2, but I feel quite good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t raced in almost a year, and within that time, I wasn\u2019t able to drive a car either. It\u2019s a long time to be outside a car, not just racing but driving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore my seven races with Alpine, I\u2019d also not raced in the year prior, in 2024 [apart from the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi]. There\u2019s been a gap, so it\u2019s important to do this to get race fit and build up consistency again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JackJack Doohan has made his ELMS debut this weekend with Nielsen Racing. Image: ELMS<\/p>\n

Jack Doohan in a strong position with \u2018foot in the F1 door\u2019 and sportscar options<\/p>\n

Doohan continued that he feels that he is in a good position right now, as he has his Haas role balanced with his new LMP2 drive, and believes that the former is giving him a strong opportunity to race in F1 again. <\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely don\u2019t rule it [sports car racing] out, and there\u2019s been some great opportunities to be in sports cars,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut transparently,\u00a0Formula 1\u00a0is the ultimate goal, and right now there\u2019s still a good opportunity, not just a hope in the air. There\u2019s still a foot in the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, if that wasn\u2019t the case, this would be a nice focus \u2014 you can have a great career in sports cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doohan certainly seems much happier right now, having been ostracised by Alpine and left in the shadows. <\/p>\n

His confidence cannot be faulted, and there was enough to show that he was approximately at the level of Colapinto, so why count him out?<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Oscar Piastri issues management update amid Mark Webber rumours<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Doohan has revealed his determination to return to Formula 1, as the Australian prepares for his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,2045,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-601973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-jack-doohan","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}