Formula 1-bound Arvid Lindblad took victory around Abu Dhabi in the final Formula 2 Sprint Race of the season, with Joshua Duerksen second and Nikola Tsolov taking his maiden podium.
Lindblad held off a late charge from Duerksen in Abu Dhabi, making it a Campos 1-3 around Yas Marina before Lindblad moves to F1 for the 2026 season.
Lindblad lined up on pole with Durksen alongside him for the Sprint race. It was an essential day for Campos, who needed to outscore Invicta by a significant margin to keep themselves in contention for the Teams’ Championship.
Into the first corner, Lindblad led Duerksen with Tsolov settling into third place behind the AIX driver. It was a struggle for Leonardo Fornaroli, who lost places in the opening corners, falling to 13th.
Dino Beganovic was fighting with Victor Martins for fifth place, the duo chasing each other around the Yas Marina Circuit. On Lap 2, Beganovic held off the Frenchman, but Duerksen began to close on Lindblad, the gap coming down to 0.5s, putting in the fastest lap on the third lap.
The PREMA of Gabriele Mini made a five-place jump in the opening corners of the lap; the Italian sat in eighth place on what had been a strong weekend so far for the Italian.
Meanwhile, his teammate suffered a disastrous start. Sebastian Montoya was slow getting off the line, dropping down to 18th.
Even with DRS, Duerksen was struggling to get past the Red Bull junior out front, the gap growing to 0.8s. Still within range of the DRS but unable to get past.
Beganovic set his sights further up the track to Ollie Goethe; the gap was 0.6s between the two. For the Ferrari-backed driver, each place would be a vital step towards Hitech’s team championship fight.
The gap came down to just 0.1s, but Goethe managed to maintain position with the Swede hunting behind him.
Safety Car halts the action
John Bennett suffered a technical failure between Turns 4 and 5, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver pulling over at the side of the track as smoke billowed from his car. A Virtual Safety Car was brought out as the gap between Lindblad and Durksen closed.
The Virtual Safety Car was short-lived, returning to green flag racing on Lap 9. Initially, Duerksen looked primed to make a move on the British Campos driver, but as they embarked on the first green flag lap after the restart, the Paraguayan driver ran wide, putting distance between him and the lead.
On Lap 11, the gap between the top two had grown to 1.9s with Dursken falling further behind with each lap.
Meanwhile, further back in the field, Mini was closing on Alex Dunne in seventh, with Jak Crawford equally closing in on the Alpine-liveried PREMA driver, a second splitting the three drivers.
Dunne was looking for his own gains, fighting with Victor Martins for sixth. The Rodin driver made a lunge around the Frenchman but had to back off into Turn 9, allowing Martins to hold his position.
Mini found himself under pressure as Crawford made a move around the outside of Turn 7, just making it stick as the two shoved each other through the winding turns.
The Italian went to take the place back in Turn 9, with the two making contact and Mini temporarily being airborne as his car clipped the edge of the kerb.
The Italian driver was quickly falling back into the clutches of the Invicta duo. Picking up potential damage to his PREMA car.
Goethe and Beganovic went wheel-to-wheel once again in the middle section of Yas Marina. Once again, the Ferrari man looked for a move around him outside but failing to make it stick.
Beganovic finally makes progress
On lap 17, Beganovic was closer than ever, and the Red Bull junior suffered a lock-up. In Turn 9, the Swede went around the outside, locking up into the corner but holding on around the wide sweeping corner. Goethe fought back, but the Ferrari-backed driver made the move stick.
Crawford made another place, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver taking seventh place. At the same time, Mini continued to suffer as Roman Stanek closed the gap to just 0.1s.
On Lap 19, Stanek made it past the Italian, but Mini wasn’t willing to give the position up, making it back past the Invicta and retaking ninth place.
Martins was once again under threat from behind, with Crawford looking around the outside of the Frenchman. However, the American misjudged the corner, clipping his front wing on the back of Williams ‘ driver’s F2 car.
The damage didn’t stop Crawford, powering past Martins to take sixth place. With Crawford’s wing on the track, a brief Virtual Safety Car was brought out.
Notably, as the racing went green, Durksen had closed the gap to within a second. Lindblad made a strong restart, growing the gap to 1.5s, but it wasn’t enough as on Lap 22, Durksen dropped the gap back within a second as the Red Bull Junior suffered a mistake.
Onto the final lap, the gap was down to just 0.4s, Durksen desperate to get an opportunity to fight for the Sprint Race victory. However, Dursken was just too far behind with Lindblad taking the chequered flag first.
Tsolov took third place, taking a podium in his second round in F2. Beganovic held on to take fourth with Goethe in fifth, while Crawford crossed the line sixth. Closing out the points finishing position was Martins and Dunne.
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