Invicta Racing’s Joshua Duerksen began Formula 2’s new season at Albert Park in the same fashion as he ended the previous one by taking victory.
Duerksen took the lead early on and controlled a late safety car restart to finish 2.1 seconds clear of Campos Racing’s Noel Leon, who scored a podium on debut, while Alex Dunne snatched third on the final lap.
ART Grand Prix’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak lined up from reversed-grid pole for his third F2 start, and he led into turn one ahead of MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe, who dived past Duerksen into second.
Duerksen quickly reclaimed the place by sweeping around the outside of Goethe into turn nine, and he repeated the move on Inthraphuvasak to take lead on lap two.
Goethe, meanwhile, spun down the order after losing a further place to Kush Maini, who soon faced a challenge for third from Nikola Tsolov and reigning FIA F3 champion Rafael Camara. The latter dived up the inside into third, only to run wide and drop back behind Maini, with Leon pouncing to further demote the Invicta driver.
Leon continued his charge by sweeping past Maini, and the Alpine junior soon was shuffled back further by Camara, Martinius Stenshorne and Dunne. Tsolov also tried to overtake Maini but went off track, and a subsequent collision with Colton Herta spun him further down the order.
The safety car was deployed on lap 15 after Prema’s Mari Boya crashed for the second time of the weekend, and racing resumed with five laps to go.
Duerksen quickly pulled clear once more, while Inthraphuvasak flatspotted his tyres before the restart and faded into the clutches of Leon, who soon claimed second.
Inthraphuvasak held third until the final lap, but ran wide and lost out to Dunne while defending into turn three. Stenshorne also swept by, but a 5s penalty for an leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier in the race demoted him to 10th at the chequered flag – and allowing Inthraphuvasak reclaim fourth.
Hitech GP’s Ritomo Mitaya climbed from 13th on the grid to fifth, while MP’s Gabriel Mini made up 15 spots to sixth. Laurens Van Hoepen was seventh ahead of Roman Bilinski, while Prema’s Sebastian Montoya just missed out on the points in ninth as the highest-placed driver to pit for supersoft tyres during the safety car period.
Camara’s tyres faded into the closing stages and he was shuffled to 11th, while Herta was another to change tyres during the caution period – and the IndyCar race-winner ended his first F2 race in 16th.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
