Grand Prix

F2 Australia: Sprint Race Results and Report

Full report and results from the Formula 2 sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Ewan Gale|
Invicta Racing

Mercedes development driver Joshua Durksen dominated the first Formula 2 sprint race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix as Colton Herta endured a frustrating introduction to the championship.

The Invicta driver got to the lead on the second lap and never looked back as he headed Noel Leon and Martinius Stenshorne at the chequered flag.

But Stenshorne was penalized after a move on Nikola Tsolov early in the race, meaning Alex Dunne was promoted to the podium.

Herta, meanwhile, was involved in two separate incidents before a late tire gamble failed to pay off as he made his first start since his switch from IndyCar.

Colton Herta, Hitech, F2, Australian GP 2026
Hitech GP

F2 underway with chaotic race

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak made a strong start to hold the lead into Turn 1, but behind Oliver Goethe made his way past Durksen for second.

The Paraguayan fought back with a stunning move into Turn 9 around the outside, before Goethe spun when under pressure from Kush Maini at Turn 11. Nico Varrone also went for a spin on lap one, losing control of his VAR at Turn 13.

Durksen replicated his move to take the lead on the second lap as those in the midfield entered into a frenetic, NASCAR-like pack battle.

That led to multiple drivers finding the grass and gravel, including Sebastian Montoya as the Prema driver was shuffled out by Herta at Turn 10.

Leon found his way past Maini for third while focus was on the midfield melee, before F3 champion Radael Camara, Stenshorne and Dunne followed suit.

Stenshorne continued his charge from ninth on the grid and disposed of Camara on lap six to move into fourth, only for the Invicta to fight back into Turn 9.

Ritomo Miyata made the most of a scuffle between Maini and Tsolov to get into seventh, the latter shuffled down to 12th in the ensuing battles.

He was then rotated after contact with Herta, who made a lunge into Turn 4 - the American left without his right front wing endplate.

The race eventually settled into a rhythm, but Mini was on a charge, continuing his charge from 21st on the grid to sixth by overtaking fellow Alpine academy driver Dunne on lap 12.

But a safety car on lap 15 changed the complexion of the race as Mari Boya found the barriers for the second time in as many days, crashing out at Turns 6 and 7.

That triggered a pitstop gamble for those further down the field, switching to super-soft tires for the final portion of the race. Herta was the first of those to switch.

The race restarted with five laps left and Durksen flew away after catching Inthraphuvasak unawares out of Turn 11.

Leon then made his move on the Thai driver into the same corner with four to go, Camara being held up in the process and losing out, dropping to 11th by Turn 9 on the following lap.

Durksen wasn't troubled at the head of affairs, though, and would finish some two seconds up on Leon, while Stenshorne got through on Inthraphuvasak at the start of the final lap for third.

But the Rodin driver had been given a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off-track earlier in the race and therefore teammate Dunne was promoted onto the podium.

Inthraphuvasak was fourth ahead of Miyata and Mini, who survived a late scare when running wide at Turn 10 and losing out to the Japanese driver.

Laurens Van Hoepen was seventh in the Trident ahead of Roman Bilinski, while Montoya recovered to ninth and ahead of Stenshorne, who held onto the top 10 despite his penalty.

Camara wound up 11th ahead of Maini and Rafael Villagomez, who was the leading driver on the super softs.

Emerson Fittipaldi finished 14th, holding off John Bennett, while Herta failed to make the most of his softer tire compound in a frustrating first race in the series.

Red Bull junior Tsolov failed to recover from his spin and also ran off at Turn 3 en route to 17th, while Goethe was 18th after his lap one incident.

Cian Shields, Dino Beganovic and Varrone rounded out the 21 finishers.

F2 Australia - Sprint Race Results

Position

Driver / Team

1

Joshua Durksen / Invicta

2

Noel Leon / Campos

3

Alex Dunne / Rodin

4

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak / ART

5

Ritomo Miyata / Hitech GP

6

Gabriele Mini / MP Motorsport

7

Laurens Van Hoepen / Trident

8

Roman Bilinski / DAMS

9

Sebastian Montoya / Prema

10

Martinius Stenshorne / Rodin

11

Rafael Camara / Invicta

12

Kush Maini / ART

13

Rafael Villagomez / VAR

14

Emerson Fittipaldi / AIX

15

John Bennett / Trident

16

Colton Herta / Hitech GP

17

Nikola Tsolov / Campos

18

Oliver Goethe / MP Motorsport

19

Cian Shields / AIX

20

Dino Beganovic / DAMS

21

Nico Varrone / VAR

DNF

Mari Boya / Prema

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Ewan Gale
EWAN GALE

Ewan is a motorsport journalist covering F1 for Grand Prix On SI. Having been educated at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, and subsequently graduating from university with a sports journalism degree, Ewan made a move into F1 in 2021. Ewan joins after a stint with Autosport as an editor, having written for a number of outlets including RacingNews365 and GPFans, during which time he has covered grand prix and car launches as an accredited member of the media.

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