Goethe, Dunne set the tone ahead of the 2026 season; F2 post-season testing recap
- Jasmin Low
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written by Jasmin Low
Following the conclusion of the 2025 Formula 2 championship, both new and familiar faces hit the track for three days of post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, offering a first glimpse into the 2026 season. Jasmin takes you through a summary of each day of on-track action.
Day 1: Oliver Goethe goes fastest in both the morning and afternoon sessions for MP Motorsport
Rodin Motorsport set the bar early in the morning session with Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne separated by 0.052s at the top of the timesheets.
MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe, who is returning for his second full-time season in the category, was the first to knock Dunne off of the top spot, with a time of 1:30.979. Goethe continued to lead the way as the morning session ticked over into its second half, however two-time Feature Race winner at the circuit Joshua Dürksen moved up to second, with a 0.332s deficit to Goethe.
The German driver couldn’t be topped in the final hour of the morning session, with Dürksen and Dunne making final improvements to close the gap to 0.177s.
Onto the afternoon session, Rodin repeated their early dominance before Ritomo Miyata brought out a brief red flag, having come to a halt on track.
With the green flags flying once again, Formula 3 champion Rafael Câmara made an improvement on new Mediums to move ahead on Dunne by 0.244s. Also on the move was the ART Grand Prix duo of Kush Maini and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who jumped up to second and fifth respectively.
Dürksen kept up the momentum in the afternoon session, improving to fourth and then second behind his teammate.
The final 30 minutes of Day 1 saw the first laps on Supersofts get underway, with Noel León going fastest with a time of 1:37.819. However, it wasn’t long before Dürksen put in a lap which was over half a second faster than León’s time, swiftly followed by his teammate.
Goethe’s run on Supersofts was enough to reclaim the top spot, trading P1 with Câmara before cementing his place at the top of the order with a time of 1:37.203.
With the chequered flag putting an end to the first day of testing, Goethe led the Invicta duo of Câmara and Dürksen, followed by his new teammate Gabirele Minì, whilst Mari Boya rounded out the top five.
Day 2: Goethe keeps the ball rolling, morning session sees fastest times
Day 2 got off to a frenzied start, with both available tyre compounds out on track and the fastest time being swiftly traded between drivers.
Those who had set the bar in Day 1 of testing continued to put in strong lap times, with Dunne leading the MP Motorsport teammates before Boya came to a halt on the Main Straight, bringing out the red flag.
Testing resumed as the first hour ran its course, with some teams, including Invicta Racing focusing on pit stop practice and long-run performance, leaving them at the lower end of the timesheets.
The afternoon proceedings saw the quickest lap time being traded between Dunne, Stenshorne and Dürksen for much of the session. However, Câmara made his way into the top three on Medium tyres before fitting a set of Supersofts to go quickest.
No driver could top Goethe’s fastest lap from the morning session of a 1:37.049, with Dunne splitting the MP Motorsport pair in P2, whilst Inthraphuvasak and Beganovic completed the top five.
Day 3: Dunne breaks Goethe’s streak, going fastest for Rodin Motorsport
Fast laps and Qualifying simulations were on the program in the opening hour of the morning session, with Van Amersfoort Racing leading the charge early on in the session as Rafael Villagómez set the fastest of the initial lap times.
Kush Maini made an appearance at the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:39.864 before Dunne went to the top, moving ahead of Maini by just over a tenth of a second.
Day 3 also saw the completion of a hat-trick of red flags due to on-track stoppages, this time for Sebastián Montoya who was stranded at Turn 14.
New Supersoft tyres were fitted for the likes of Villagómez and his teammate Nicolás Varrone, as well as AIX Racing’s Cian Shields, who made up the top three once the session resumed.
Maini continued to make improvements to reclaim second, finally beating Villagómez’s time by 0.137s before Dunne snuck ahead of the ART Grand Prix driver by 0.010s.
With long-run practice, pit stops, and starting procedures to come in the remaining part of the morning session, Dunne kept P1 marking an improvement in pace compared to his race weekend in the days prior to the test.
Race simulations remained popular throughout the afternoon session, with Boya leading the opening stages of the session before being demoted to second by Goethe.
Montoya made his way into second ahead of his teammate, with Laurens van Hoepen and Inthraphuvasak improving up to third and fourth respectively.
The final minutes of the session saw both Rodin cars on track for some final flying laps, with Dunne moving up to P2 and Stenshorne to P3. Again, the fastest lap times were smashed out during the morning session, before race simulations got underway.
F2 has now wrapped up for the 2025 season, and will return to the Albert Park Street Circuit in 2026 for its season-opener from March 6-8.
