DAMS Lucas Oil’s Kush Maini wins the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Monaco, taking his first victory of the 2025 campaign from reverse-grid pole position.
In his third season in the series, the Indian racing driver led from the start ahead of the Prema Racing driver Gabriele Mini.
Luke Browning inherited the final podium position for Hitech after Arvid Lindblad’s 10-second time penalty, to complete the top three order.
Rodin Motorsport driver Alex Dunne snatched pole position from Victor Martins on Friday, as the championship leader lined up from 10th on the grid for the Sprint.
With the fifth fastest time in Group B qualifying, Maini started the Sprint from pole ahead of Browning on the front row.
Mini started from third, and the other DAMS Lucas Oil car of Jak Crawford completed the second row in fourth.
Maini holds onto race lead in Monaco
With a good start from pole, Maini maintained the race lead, as Browning dropped back from the front row down to second.
Mini climbed up to second, with Crawford in third, before the American made contact with Lindblad’s Campos car into Mirabeau.
Replays showed the British driver attempted a lunge on the DAMS car, but the gap quickly closed, sending Crawford sliding into the corner.
With damage to his car, Crawford fell back to fifth, allowing Lindblad and Browning to each gain a position.
Stewards made note of the incident before confirming it was under investigation, after Crawford urged his team to report the collision.
On Lap 5, Mini kept the pressure on Maini at the front, running within four tenths of the race leader as the pair pulled clear of the rest of the field.
Lindblad, a couple of seconds down the road, received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Browning, just behind the Campos driver, was now set to take advantage of his penalty and earn himself a podium finish.
Crawford remained in fifth, Richard Verschoor up to sixth ahead of Sebastian Montoya and Leonardo Fornaroli occupying the final point-scoring position in eighth.
At the hairpin, a replay showed contact between Roman Stanek and Marti, battling for 15th place.
The Campos team told Lindblad to open up a significant gap to the leaders, in order to give him clean air to pull away from the drivers behind with his time penalty.
By Lap 10 of 30, Mini was all over the gearbox of Maini, as the pair were in a different postcode to the rest of the grid.
Durksen and Goethe collide as Safety Car is deployed
On the next lap, Joshua Durksen came to a stop before the tunnel after contact heading into the hairpin.
The AIX Racing driver went wheel-to-wheel with Oliver Goethe, but as the MP Motorsport car edged ahead, the pair made contact.
Durksen limped on for a few corners before coming to a stop.
The Safety Car was deployed, erasing the gap between the race leaders and the rest of the field – much to Lindblad’s frustration.
By Lap 14, the racing resumed with the Aston Martin Safety Car returning to the pits, as Maini continued to fend off the challenge from the Italian.
The DAMS driver kept Mini at bay and extended his lead to over a second, avoiding the DRS threat.
At the restart, Goethe made a move on Martins for ninth into Rascasse with an ambitious overtake, just squeezing by as the Frenchman tumbled down the order after damaging his front wing in the process.
Marti pulled into the pits as his race came to a premature end.
On Lap 19, Mini got within DRS range of the race leader once again as Dunne led a train of cars down in 10th place.
Browning closed up right to the rear of the Campos car in front of him, Lindblad holding third place on track.
However, Lindblad was soon given the orders to push and pulled away from the Hitech driver.
On Lap 24, Mini backed off from the race lead in an attempt to go for the fastest lap point.
Browning now trailed the 17-year-old by over five seconds, as Lindblad put himself into a position to remain in the points.
Maini, however, cruised home for victory ahead of Mini in second and Browning in third.
Crawford crossed the line in fourth after his Lap 1 incident with Lindblad, Verschoor taking fifth place at the chequered flag.
Montoya finished sixth, Fornaroli seventh, and the British driver rounded out the top eight after his penalty dropped him down the order.
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