Joshua Dürksen dominates first race of the season after taking the lead in the opening stages, ahead of rookie Noel León who takes his first FIA Formula 2 podium in debut.
The first race of the season down under didn’t disappoint with an action packed Sprint demonstrating the talent-packed field for the 2026 season.
Lining up P1 on the grid was newcomer Inthraphuvasak, bringing Thailand back to the grid after eight years, with the top 10 being reversed, he shared the front row with Joshua Dürksen, last year’s Sprint Race winner.
Goethe shot off the line into P2 with the advantage of the cleaner track for the start. However he was soon overtaken again by Dürksen at Turn 9, and then again by Maini before clipping the kerb with too much throttle, causing him to spin in the middle of the track.
This brought out the first yellow flag of the race and left him sat in P20.
Come Lap 2, Dürksen yet again took another place to take the lead of the race, with a tight battle for P3 happening just behind.
Just a lap later, Montoya felt the full force of the overtakes in the middle of the pack, leaving the track shortly and dropping down to P19, before Beganovic jumped into the pits early on Lap 4.
The last place of the podium changed yet again on Lap 5 as León overtook Maini after starting P6 and taking several early overtakes.
2025 Formula 3 champion Câmara fought a tight battle with Maini, before taking P5 from him at Turn 12, a corner that saw several drivers in a delicate position already.
However he executed the move perfectly and left Maini vulnerable to both Rodin Motorsport cars, who inevitably overtook him over the next lap.
Tsolov and Herta came together on Lap 8 after a close battle left them racing side by side through the windy streets of Melbourne but both managed to re-join the race with Tsolov in P19 and Herta in P13.
During his tight fight with Câmara for P4, Stenshorne received a 5 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in Turn 1, as Dunne slowly began to gain time on the pair.
With ten laps to go, Dürksen sat comfortably with just under a 2 second lead followed by pole-sitter Inthraphuvasak who sat just outside of the DRS range of both the cars in front and behind, León, who rounded off the top three.
Lap 14 seemed to bring an issue for Tsolov’s car, with a tricky race and arguably one to forget for him as he again went off the track and had to re-join in P19.
Only a lap later, Boya brought out the Safety Car after a battle between him and Montoya which was followed by Boya experiencing a snap of understeer. He ran out of track and found the gravel, forcing him to retire from his first F2 race.
Half of the pack dived into the pits and opted for the supersoft option, with the top three all staying out on their old tyres.
By the time the Safety Car was released, Alpine Academy driver Minì had made up an impressive 15 places sat with prosperous points on the board after a difficult Qualifying session.
With four laps to go, the Safety Car came into the pits with a great restart from Dürksen in Turn 11, catching Inthraphuvasak off guard who then locked up in the next corner, allowing a bigger buffer between León and Dürksen.
A lap later with DRS enabled, León finally took P2 from Inthraphuvasak as Câmara tumbled down the pack into P11 after running wide after an overtake.
Those with the older sets of tyres began to struggle with one lap to go, with Minì running wide and becoming under pressure from Van Hoepen and Bilinski.
Dürksen took the first win of the season, repeating last year’s result after starting P2. He was joined on the podium by León and Dunne. Minì managed to hold onto P6 to bring home points despite starting in P21.
Racing action will resume again at 11:25 local time for the first Feature Race of the season.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
