Verschoor grabs surprise victory in thrilling Barcelona F2 sprint

Vyas Ponnuri
2 days ago
4 min read

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

The script writers may not have predicted this. Many wouldn't have believed if you mentioned Richard Verschoor, starting sixth on the road, as a victory favourite. But such is F2, you can never predict anything to be certain until the chequered flag drops.

Verschoor celebrated a surprise sprint win in Barcelona | Credit: Formula 2 via X

Verschoor, a man who stalled off the line and found himself in the wars mid race with Sunday pole-sitter Arvid Lindblad, took a late race gamble to fit the soft tyres. A gamble that played a crucial role in him rising up the order in the closing stages of the race to take an astounding victory.

He was followed by Alex Dunne and Rafael Villagómez, two drivers who started 19th and 22nd respectively, taking advantage of the late safety car to vault themselves up onto the sprint podium.

Long-time sprint leader Jak Crawford scrambled home to finish a strong fourth, after being a sitting duck to the freshly-shod soft runners ahead. Sebastián Montoya, in the wars with teammate Gabriele Minì, too benefitted, rising up to fifth after dropping down the order.

Williams junior Victor Martins wound up sixth on the road, another soft-tyred runner towards the end, with Luke Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli salvaging seventh and eighth on their aging hard tyres.

Lindblad eventually recovered from a mid-race spin to finish ninth, while Sami Meguetounif took his best F2 finish for Trident with tenth.

AS IT UNFOLDED

Invicta Racing's Leonardo Fornaroli started the 26-lap sprint from reverse grid pole, ahead of AIX Racing's Joshua Dürksen and championship leader Luke Browning. The sprint presented Fornaroli's best chance of grabbing his maiden F2 victory, and his first on the Road to F1 ladder.

Browning would immediately stake his claim on the sprint from the moment the lights went out. Taking advantage of the slow start for the front runners, the Williams junior slipped through in between Dürksen and Fornaroli, spying a gap to take the lead into turn 1.

He wouldn't be the only one, as Jak Crawford too moved around the outside of Fornaroli to take second. Holding on through the long right of turn 3, the American fended off the Invicta racer to keep hold of second.

Elsewhere, Ritomo Miyata's stellar start saw him gain an exceptional seven positions, the last of those capped off with a move down the inside of Fornaroli's teammate Roman Staněk on lap 2, down the inside of turn 1.

Other major gainers on the opening tour were PREMA's Gabriele Minì and Alex Dunne, gaining four and five spots respectively. Meanwhile, Richard Verschoor stalled off the line, but managed to stay within the top ten, as the race went on.

A major change for the lead on lap 2 saw Crawford take his DAMS around the outside of Browning into the long turn 4 hairpin. Keeping his blue-liveried machine alongside, the two drivers clipped front wings, with the American using all his grip and bravery to keep the DAMS side by side, making the move into turn 5.

Meanwhile, Victor Martins day went from bad to worse, with Amaury Cordeel forcing him off the road at turn 8, sending the Frenchman into a trip through the gravel.

The race soon stabilised into a stalemate, with drivers racing in a DRS train, none of the drivers unable to have the overwhelming pace to make any overtakes and improve their positions.

Lap 13 would bring heartbreak to those down at AIX Racing, with Dürksen slowing on the track owing to a technical issue, letting Maini and Miyata past. However, the slowing AIX Racing held up feature race pole-sitter Arvid Lindblad in the twisty final sector.

As the Paraguayan pulled into the pits, Lindblad found himself under pressure from Verschoor's MP Motorsport. The Dutchman, having the overwhelming speed due to DRS assistance, veering right onto the grass as he pulled alongside with the Red Bull liveried Campos.

Both drivers made contact as they entered turn 1, with Lindblad taking to the run off, before spinning around. Verschoor, surprised by the incident, soon found himself under pressure from Lindblad's teammate Pepe Martí, the home favourite pulling off a move into turn 5 to take seventh.

The inevitable battle between both PREMA teammates resulted in a disappointing end, with both Minì and Sebastián Montoya spinning in the run off at turn 1. Although the latter managed to get going, Minì sat stranded on the exit of turn 2, triggering a safety car on lap 18.

Several drivers outside the top ten chose to take a free pit stop, with nothing to lose. The likes of Verschoor, Dunne, Martins, Sami Meguetounif and Lindblad opted for the soft tyre, as the safety car peeled into the pits on lap 20, leaving six laps of racing remaining.

And it was in these final six laps which saw the race flip right on its head. The massive pace differential between the soft and the hard tyres was easily visible, as Verschoor and Dunne surged up the order with a series of overtakes, utilising the extra grip on their tyres.

The experienced Dutchman easily cantered past Crawford, who then focused on nursing his hard tyres to the end of the race, losing further positions to Dunne, who started down in 19th, and Van Amersfoort Racing's Rafael Villagómez, who rose up from last on the grid top finish third.

Quite fittingly in F2's folklore, both Verschoor and Dunne had catapulted themselves into the fight for victory, with the Irishman chasing down the MP Motorsport racer until the flag. A stunned Verschoor held on to grab victory, ahead of Dunne, while Villagómez grabbed his best Formula 2 finish with third.

The podium promoted Dunne up into the championship lead, with Browning only grabbing two points in seventh. A race full of surprises with a twist in the tale, and here's the final classification: