Joshua Dürksen wins F2 Sprint Race at Albert Park

Written by Liam Ploetner

Joshua Dürksen took his fifth F2 victory, and his second at Albert Park. | Credit: Formula 2

It was Joshua Dürksen who took the opening win of the 2026 Formula 2 season in the Albert Park Sprint Race after starting from second place.

How the action unfolded

On pole was Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who was making his third start in F2, having competed in the final round in Abu Dhabi last year.

The opening lap saw two spins, as Oliver Goethe spun from third at turn 13, Nicolás Varrone spun at the penultimate corner from 15th. Goethe had made a good start by passing Joshua Dürksen, but was passed by the Paraguayan, as well as Kush Maini, before he spun, which replays showed was due to hitting the inside kerb.

On lap two, the Invicta duo of Dürksen and Rafael Câmara moved up places, as Câmara went into fifth and Dürksen took the lead. Colton Herta picked up some minor front wing damage after contact with one of the Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) cars.

Martinius Stenshorne battled into turn one with Nikola Tsolov, with the duo losing time as a result. Colton Herta moved ahead of Sebastián Montoya for 13th, with Montoya going off-track and down to 19th.

Dürksen had broken the one-second mark by now, and led Inthraphuvasak, Maini, Noel León, Câmara, Stenshorne, Alex Dunne, Tsolov, Roman Bilinski and Ritomo Miyata.

León got ahead of Maini on lap five, and Stenshorne was under investigation for going off track and gaining an advantage on Tsolov, later getting a five second penalty. Later that lap, Maini lost another three spots to Câmara, Stenshorne and Dunne, dropping him to seventh. By this stage, fourth to 12th was covered by less than three seconds. The biggest gainer was Gabriele Minì, who had gone from 21st to 11th in the opening five laps.

Tsolov would have a disastrous lap seven and eight, going from seventh down to 19th. He initially lost time trying to pass Kush Maini, before being spun by Colton Herta whilst battling for 13th. The incident would be investigated after the race. This action caused a split in the pack, as by lap 12, fourth to 12th were now separated by ten seconds.

The duo who gained from the chaos was Miyata and Minì, who were now seventh and eighth. Minì passed Miyata soon after, and set his sights on Dunne, Stenshorne and Câmara.

Dino Beganovic had a mostly quiet race, as he pitted early on and set the fastest lap.

At half race’s distance, Dürksen led from Inthraphuvasak, León, Câmara, Stenshorne, Dunne, Minì, Miyata, Laurens van Hoepen and Maini.

Minì continued his rampage up the field, moving ahead of Dunne on lap 12. Minì was running around half a second quicker than León during his movement up the field, while van Hoepen was also running quick, setting the fastest lap and battling with Miyata for eighth.

Rafael Villagómez became the second VAR driver to go off at the penultimate turn, dropping from 10th to 18th. Tsolov then went off once again, this time at turn three.

PREMA’s Mari Boya was in the barriers on lap 15 at turn seven. He had been battling teammate Montoya in the mid-pack. This brought out the Safety Car for the first time in 2026.

Whilst pitstops are not mandatory in Sprint Races, Herta, Cian Shields, Villagómez, Tsolov, Goethe, Varrone and Beganovic all pitted onto the supersoft tyres to try and gain an advantage on the 14 drivers ahead.

The Safety Car period ended at the conclusion of lap 18, with Inthraphuvasak locking up into the penultimate turn, which put him under pressure from León behind. Dürksen was already a second clear after only one sector of green flag racing.

Herta led the train of supersoft runners, who were stuck behind John Bennett’s Trident in 14th. Bennett defended well into turn 10, keeping the American rookie behind. Herta ended up losing a place to Villagómez for 15th.

Villagómez began clearing the soft runners, moving ahead of Bennett, but the train was already four seconds behind the points with four laps to go.

A trio of rookies were battling for the final two podium places, as León moved ahead of Inthraphuvasak at turn 13, with Câmara almost passing Inthraphuvasak before losing momentum, eventually dropping the Brazilian out of the points.

Dunne managed to move ahead of Minì during the pandemonium, going into fifth.

Minì continued battling with Dunne, making a mistake at the left-right chicane which dropped him behind Miyata in seventh. Stenshorne was stuck behind Inthraphuvasak, but eventually got past him at turn one on the final lap.

Dunne was now right behind Inthraphuvasak, and got ahead moments later for what would be the final place on the podium as the ART Grand Prix driver ran wide at turn four.

It was Dürksen who took victory, winning from León and Dunne in what was a perfect drive from the Paraguayan. For the second year running, the Invicta driver won the Albert Park Sprint Race. Dürksen described the win as “amazing” over the radio to his team.