After qualifying 10th in Friday’s F2 Sakhir Qualifying session in Bahrain, AIX Racing’s Joshua Dürksen started from reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint race. After many laps of fierce fighting, Dürksen crossed the line third to claim his second podium of the season. Unfortunately, he was soon stripped of his podium finish, after Stewards found his car to be in breach of Article 3.4.1a of the F2 Technical Regulations. However, as the announcement came late, Dürksen had already completed all of his post-race activities before learning the unfortunate news.
The third step on the podium – before it slipped away
Starting from pole position, Joshua Dürksen had the ideal launchpad for the Sprint Race. While the Paraguayan was eager to take the win, he was realistic about his chances, acknowledging, “Yeah, for sure I wanted to win. But anyway, I knew Bahrain is not our strong point.”
Speaking to the media after the race, Dürksen reflected on the team’s efforts to overcome early-season challenges.
“We’ve been struggling and testing, trying to do big changes, and we knew it’s going to be a challenging weekend. But for sure, I think we maximised what we had.”
Despite those struggles, Dürksen remained confident. The race saw plenty of wheel-to-wheel battles, and although he defended well, the key limitation was his pace.
“I defended quite well, I created the gap, but I just didn’t have the pure pace, and the guys were catching up way too quickly.”
He continued, “So, this was a bit of an issue for me. But I had hope until the last two laps. I knew it was going to be difficult to keep the position because the other guys were just faster than me.”
Even with that disadvantage, Dürksen believed the win was within reach.
“But for sure, I was quite confident that I could get the win done.”
Desperate for a few less laps
No matter how fiercely Dürksen fought for a podium, he couldn’t help but wish the race had ended slightly earlier. He admitted to anxiously watching the trackside TV screens in the closing stages. “I’m not going to lie, on the last two or three laps, I was watching the TV to see how many laps were left.”
“I saw before, I saw lap 22, and then I look at the next lap, and then it’s lap 22, so I looked wrong,” he laughed. “So, I was like, oh, one more lap.”
Reflecting on the final moments, he added, “So, yeah, I just wish the race was finishing a bit earlier. To be honest, two laps earlier would have been perfect for me.”
Nonetheless, Dürksen acknowledged the strong pace of his rivals. “But no, they did a great job for sure. They’re really quick and we still have to work to be on the same pace as them, and hopefully we can do that tomorrow.”
Although he was ultimately content with third, he admitted the result came with mixed emotions. “Of course, I wanted to win, but I’m still happy with P3. There was a lot of fighting going on.”
After an intense battle, he saw a glimmer of hope when overtaking Dino Beganovic. “When I overtook Dino, I was like, okay, now I have a chance again to fight for the win.”
Asked about the close battles throughout the race, Dürksen echoed fellow podium finisher Richard Verschoor’s sentiments. “Like Richard said, a bit stressful, but still fun.”
He added, “Like Richard said, it’s the same thing. I started racing because of this, because I love the side-to-side battle. And I think we had this quite a lot in this race. Anyway, I’m happy.”
The factors behind Dürksen’s race
Looking back at the in-season test, where he went second fastest on the final day, Dürksen remained grounded in his evaluation. “Well, I don’t think that the results of the last day, in the afternoon, were representative.”
He explained that it’s not just about a single result, but the work put in across all three days. “I think it’s more about what you do during the whole three days, not only the last session.”
“Of course, you want to improve the car, and you want to check that the changes that you do are working on the last day for sure. But I don’t think that specifically this last day made a big difference for the result today.”
Another key factor in the Sprint Race was tyre degradation, particularly as track temperatures began to fall. Despite the drop, he noted: “They didn’t last, but for sure they last better than with the hot temperatures.”
The change in weather came as a relief. “No, for sure I was really happy when I was feeling that I was cooling down because when we had to do warm up, it was still really hot, and when I’m jumping inside the car, slowly the temperatures were dropping.”
Still, tyre life remains a concern. “Somehow, the tyre life is still a topic we have to work on.” He concluded, “But for sure, the cooler it is, the better it is, and the happier I am.”
P3 snatched away by a disqualification
Despite celebrating a hard-fought podium, Dürksen’s joy was short-lived. Post-race, both he and an AIX Racing representative were summoned to the stewards. While Dürksen opted not to attend, the team’s chief mechanic and technical delegate did.
After reviewing the Technical Delegate’s report, the stewards ruled that Dürksen’s car did not meet technical regulations. Specifically, “diffuser strake 1” on car 20 was found to be 2mm too low—even after applying permissible tolerances.
As a result, Dürksen was disqualified from the Sprint Race. With the majority of the season ahead, however, the Paraguayan will need to regroup quickly. The disqualification is undoubtedly a setback—but it could also serve as motivation. He remains a driver to watch.
