F2 | Sprint Race | Australian GP

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It’s time for the first race of the 2025 F2 season, which will be a Sprint! On track pole sitter Gabriele Mini received a three place grid penalty for impeding Jak Crawford, thus promoting former Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins into the top starting spot. No further action was taken against other investigated drivers Goethe, Esterson and Meguetounif.

A peculiar grid

The session was precedes by a 15 minutes shakedown. The additional non broadcasted session was organized because it was found out that many cars suffered from power cuts during FP and qualifying. Thus teams had more time to test out new solutions and configurations.

However, with the top ten inversion, reigning F3 champion Fornaroli and Duerkesen will line up from the front row for the F2 Sprint of the Australian GP.

Drivers from different teams also lost positions because of their teams mounting illicit sensors on their cars for testing.

Winner of the final race of 2024 Durksen overtakes Fornaroli right at the start of the race, while Martins was pushed out off track by Stanek. Main went off track at Turn 10 of the first lap.

On Lap 2 Art’s Martin’s race comes to an end. The Frenchman lost the rear of his car while exiting Turn 5. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed to smoothly recover his car.

Racing resumed on Lap 4 with Durksen having developed over a second of advantage on the Italian. It was on the other hand a potential overtaking situation for Browning in P3. But he was ultimately unsuccessful.

Early drama in the F2 Sprint

Verschoor, Stanek, Beganovic, Montoya, Mini, Marti and Miyata complete the top ten on Lap 5. Beganovic overtakes Stanek joining the top 5, while Mini gets ahead of Martin at Turn 11.

The first Safety Car of the day was issued on Lap 6 because of a crash involving Trident’s Esterson, who spun and beached the car. It was a longer one, with Dunne mentioning on his radio that he is getting a cramp.

Racing resumed on Lap 11, with the Aix driver strongly hold on to his lead. Montoya tried to complete a move on Stanek but was unsuccessful.

Beganovic spins out from the top 10 at Turn9, dropping to P17. Luckily Stanek and Montoya, close to the Hitech driver, managed to avoid him.

Both Trident drivers are now out of the race as Meguetounif got spun out by Villagomez at Lap 15 and crashing out at the same spot at which Beganovic earlier had managed to correct his mistake. Another Safety Car thus came out.

Racing resumed on Lap 17 with the same Top 5 as earlier, Montoya, Mini, Marti, Lindblad and Miyata complete ow the top 10. However, it’s short lasted as Miyata runs wide off track onto the gravel and drops to P13.The instance promotes Dunne to P10. Durksen has a 1s gap again over Fornaroli, who is 1.7s away from Browning.

Late moves

Montoya manages to hold off Mini’s assaults for P6. On Lap 20 Stanek signs the fastest lap of the race. With three to go, will he be able to actually get on the podium?

Stanek almost spun out but managed to remain on track, while Dunne moves up to P9 in his first race and in spite of the severe starting grid penalty. Verschoor tried to overtake Browning on the final lap for the final podium position but he was unsuccessful.

Durksen begins 2025 just like he had ended 2024, with a win in the F2 Sprint of the Australian GP, and shares the podium with rookie Fornaroli and Williams Academy talent Browning. Veterans Verschoor and Stanek round off the top 5, while Montoya, Mini, Marti, Dunne and Lindblad complete the top 10.