Joshua Dürksen showcases strong pace to seal Formula 2 Sprint Race victory

Credit: Formula 2 via X

Joshua Dürksen reigned victorious in Monza after his impressive pace allowed him to hold off the day’s polesitter, John Bennett. As Dürksen broke away from the field in the final restart, he sealed his victory leading him to the podium's top step. He was followed by Bennett in second and Oliver Goethe in third.

How it happened

A chaotic Friday Qualifying and seven post-session penalties later, it was Trident driver Bennett who started on pole once the top ten drivers from Qualifying had positions reversed for the Sprint Race.

As the lights went out it was a charging battle between Bennett and Goethe down into Turn 1, but it was Bennett who took the lead as the first lap continued, and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak who took second.

INVICTA’s Dürksen had a strong start off the line climbing three places into fourth as he continued the lap on a hunt for the race leaders.

Into Parabolica, championship leader Nikola Tsolov snatched the position from Rimoto Miyata making his way into sixth.

Into Lap 4, Campos driver Neol Leon made a move on teammate Tsolov, creating a strong gap to the Red-Bull driver behind as he continued to gain pace. Meanwhile, Bennett extended his gap to the rest of the field behind, continuing an impressive drive.

Into Lap 5, a yellow flag was called for Rafael Camara after Nicolas Varrone found the rear of his yellow INVICTA livery. Surprisingly, it was Rafael Villagomez who was indirectly impacted by the incident and had to retreat to the pit for adjustments.

In Lap 8, the safety car was signalled to end, and it was back racing with both Bennett and Dürksen clinching favourable restarts.

In Lap 9, Dürksen found solid pace to overtake Bennett in front. Bennett had no time to respond as it wasn’t long before Dürksen extended his gap to over 1-second.

As the race reached the halfway mark, a small lock up for Inthraphuvasak cost him his position as he retreated to the run-off area due to the mistake. He continued to lose momentum and was shortly overtaken by both Tsolov and Alex Dunne.

Meanwhile, the battle between Dürksen and Bennett continued. However, the two were pulling away from the rest of the field at rapid pace with a steady 3-second gap the remainder of the grid.

In Lap 16, after spending a few laps out of podium contention, Goethe made his way back up to third holding his position steady. However, he still had a 5-second gap between him and the leaders in front so, third began looking like the most reasonable outcome.

Into Lap 17 a yellow flag was called and was followed shortly by a late safety car. DAMS driver Roman Bilinski spun to a stop and was unable to rejoin the race.

With only two laps to go racing resumed. Both Campos drivers made sturdy moves on Martinius Stenshorne to advance into fourth and fifth respectively. Meanwhile, Dürksen continued his charge creating an over 1.2-second gap ahead of main rival Bennett.

As the race drew to an end it was Dürksen who crossed the line in first, sealing his seventh win in his Formula 2 career, second in the 2026 season. He was closely followed by Bennett who finished the race in second and Goethe, who rounded out the podium in third.

What next?

Round 10 of the 2026 Formula 2 Championship season will continue on Sunday at 9:45AM CEST for the Feature Race at the famous Temple of Speed in Monza, Italy.