Joshua Durksen took a dominant victory in the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Melbourne, with Noel Leon and Alex Dunne completing the podium.
With the reverse grid for the Sprint Race, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was starting on pole with Joshua Durksen alongside him. Durksen has taken victory around Albert Park before
Despite not having a pit stop in the Sprint Race, the race is long enough that drivers will battle tyre degradation throughout.
Durksen determined to lead
The lights went out, and Inthruphuvasak made a good start off the line, holding on to first place. Ollie Goethe went around the outside of Durksen behind, taking second place from the Invicta driver.
However, Durksen wasn’t ready to give up the position, wheel-to-wheel with the MP driver, going around the outside into Turn 6 and taking back second place.
Goethe immediately found himself under pressure from Kush Maini. The MP driver clipped the curb, spun on the track while fighting, dropping through the order. He got going again but was 21st. Varrone also spun through the grass further back in the order, also managing to get going.
Durksen made his way past Inthraphuvasak into the lead of the race while the order was close behind him.
Maini was under pressure from Noel Leon behind, and Rafael Camara and Stenshorne fought throughout the lap. Dunne and Tsolov were also in the fight, the train of drivers running side by side into each other.
On Lap 5, Camara closed on the gearbox of Maini, diving down the inside of the Alpine liveried ART and moved ahead into fourth. Maini tried to fight back into turn 12, the two going into the corner side-by-side, but Camara found the grip and held his line.
But the order was constantly shifting as Stenshorne got ahead of Maini and then Camara, forcing Camara to get past the Rodin driver to reclaim fourth.
Mini’s climb through the order
Further down the order, Gabriele Mini was fighting for the final points positions. The MP driver started the race 21st after a technical issue, but was making quick work of the field.
Colton Herta and Nikola Tsolov were going wheel-to-wheel into Turn 4 when they made light contact, sending Tsolov spinning on the track. The Red Bull Junior got going again but was sitting in 19th.
Martinius Stenshorne looked to take back fourth place from Camara, taking a look on the inside into Turn 12 but backing out.
Down to Turn 1, the Rodin driver was close to the Invicta, and dove down the inside, making it past Camara, but the two switched back in the next corner, and Camara maintained fourth.
Stenshorne received a five-second penalty for pushing Tsolov off the track earlier in the race, his focus shifting to try to get ahead of Camara and five seconds down the road.
Alex Dunne was closing on the battle for fourth, but not far behind him was the other Alpine liveried machinery of Mini. The Italian climbing to seventh and closing quickly on sixth.
In Lap 12, Mini took 0.7s out of Dunne. On the straight, Mini powered past Dunne, making it ahead of the Rodin before the corner and comfortably taking sixth place.
The field was still tight with Dunne cautious of Ritomo Miyata and Laurens Van Hoepen behind him.
Tsolov was struggling, running off track again into the gravel in Turn 3.
Mari Boya brought out a Safety Car as he ran through the gravel in Turn 6 and hit the barrier.
A slew of drivers further down the order chose to take the risk and pit, a last-ditch effort for the final seven laps. Herta led the pit stop drivers on the super soft tyres.
Safety Car
With the grid close together, the non-pit-stop drivers were hoping the performance offset wouldn’t be big enough to challenge their runs.
On Lap 18, the Safety car came in, leaving Dursken to take the field back to racing. Durksen went through Turn 11, a strong restart catching Inthraphuvasak off guard. The ART driver locked up in the early corners, which brought Noel Leon on his tail.
Colton Herta looked around the outside of John Bennett but decided against the move, instead defending his position from Rafael Villagomez. The VAR driver passed Herta to take 15th place.
Villagomez was the first super soft runner to get past a soft runner, getting around Bennett and moving into 14th.
Noel Leon made a strong move into second. Camara was losing places through Lap 21, with Dunne and Mini passing the Invicta driver.
Durksen’s lead had grown to 1.9s on Lap 22, with one lap left. However, the battle for third was still going, with Inthraphuvasak under pressure from Stenshorne. Stenshorne made quick work of the ART driver, Inthraphuvasak struggling for pace.
Mini was under pressure after a slight off-track moment, but the chequered flag came at the perfect time for the Italian driver. Moving into sixth place after the flag with Stenshorne’s five-second penalty.
Durksen took the flag to claim a dominant win, with Noel Leon and Alex Dunne completing the podium. Inthraphuvasak settled for fourth place with Miyata in fifth.
Mini completed his climb from 21st to finish sixth, with Laurens Van Hoepen crossing the line close behind in seventh, and Roman Bilinski took the final points position in eighth.
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