Dürksen Does The Double at Monza
After an amazing weekend before the summer break in Hungary saw Nikola Tsolov maintain his lead in the championship by 20 points to Gabriele Minì in 2nd. But after the summer break would anyone be able to catch up?
Sprint Race
As lights went out with John Bennett on pole and Oliver Goethe next to him in P2, there was a lock up from Goethe into the iconic Turn 1 chicane causing Inthraphuvasak to gain position into P2. With Oliver Goethe now P3. Lap 2 into the last corner of Parabolica saw championship leader Nikola Tsolov take P6 from Rodin driver Miyata and later down the straight saw a battle with Inthraphuvasak and Goethe with Invicta driver Dürksen right behind both of them. Goethe made a risky move into Turn 1 saw him lose position to Dürksen.
Behind all of this on Lap 4, saw an amazing battle between the 2 Campos teammates of Noel León who had an emotional first win last time out in Hungary versus the championship leader of Nikola Tsolov for P6 which saw Noel León completing the overtake on his teammate. Down the first straight, a move from Inthraphuvasak on Joshua Dürksen was attempted with Dürksen defending well and keeping the position. However, things weren't all good for his teammate and championship contender Rafael Camara as he hit the Hitech driver in front of him causing him to spin and fall all the way down the pack to 22nd and out of the race.
After Joshua Dürksen took P2 in the race, he closed down the gap between John Bennett out front which saw a successful move on Bennett into Turn 1 meaning he had now taken the lead of the sprint race. But would anybody be able to catch Joshua Dürksen? During the next few laps of the middle part of the race, a battle between Goethe, Shenstone, Inthraphuvasak, León and Tsolov emerged for the final spot on the podium with all of them within a second of each other! With a powerful DRS train Goethe took P3 on lap 16 and after an impressive start, Inthraphuvasak dropped back to P8.
During the closing stages of the race, Roman Bilinski had spun his car coming out of the ascari chicane leading to the safety car and all the cars closing up. But with 2 laps to go could Joshua Dürksen still hold on? On the penultimate lap of the race Dürksen had a brilliant restart leading to a gap of 7 tenths between him and John Bennett leading to him winning the race. His 7th win in F2. With Trident driver John Bennett and MP driver Oliver Goethe rounding out the podium for the sprint race.
Feature Race
As the lights went out it was Joshua Dürksen who got the leapfrog over his teammate Rafael Câmara down into the first corner as Câmara locked up and went straight across the apex. In the background Inthraphuvasak passed the Alpine livery of Alex Dunne for 3rd.
Câmara and Dürksen swapped places continuously until Lap 6 when Dürksen pitted. Lap 8 saw Câmara down to Villagomez pitted for fresh tyres leaving only Fittapaldi, Montoya, Beganovic and Maini yet to pit. Herta brought out the yellow flag on Lap 12 for getting beached in the gravel.
Dunne locked up and lost a place to León as Miyata went back past Inthraphuvasak. Meanwhile, Stenshorne and Varrone were battling hard which led to Stenshorne losing a front wing template. Villagomez and Maini went at it, resulting in Villagomez taking a trip over the sausage curb.
Lap 25 saw Bennett get past Dunne. On the final lap Câmara tried to shape for a move but lost the chance as Dürksen came around the final corner to win from Câmara and León. P4 went to Bennett as Miyata, Dunne, championship leader Nikola Tsolov, Inthraphuvasak, Goethe and Varrone round out the top 10.
Article Written by Alexandria Kinsella-Evans & Catherine Rammelt ©️2026
