Joshua Dürksen made history in Imola, becoming the first driver from Paraguay to stand on the podium in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

The Paraguayan rookie finished third in Imola’s Feature Race after starting P5 on the grid, winning both his and his country’s first points and first podium in F2.

The AIX Racing driver said: “It’s a really big honour, we have only one go kart track in the whole country, and then one autodrome which we barely use.

“It’s a privilege for me, rally is strong in Paraguay but circuit racing is not as popular so it’s a big honour to represent Paraguay and I’m really happy with the support I’m getting from the country.”

The 20-year-old driver has made the jump up from the Formula Regional Championship by Alpine straight to Formula 2, missing out Formula 3 and has had to wait four rounds for a standout result.

Dürksen was one of five drivers who were taken out on the opening lap of the Sprint Race while running in the top 10 with a good chance of points, but had as second chance in the Feature Race.

He said: “It’s a really great feeling, in Jeddah I finished in the points but a penalty took me out of the points, and then in Australia I thought I would score my first points there but I had a crash, and yesterday I also thought I would get points but I couldn’t avoid the big crash.

“This was a great comeback and I’m just really happy and really thankful to the team.”

Josh made a great start to the Feature Race, accelerating past Kimi Antonelli and taking advantage of Gabriel Bortoleto’s poor getaway to take P3. Bortoleto would get back past during the pit stops, but Bearman’s double stall in the pits saw the Paraguayan promoted back to the final spot on the podium.

Dürksen said “This was a great start for my season after so many hard races, I will take it step by step, but it can be different on each track, my main focus is working hard to maximise everything.”