The Paraguayan driver from the AIX team wins his first Formula 2 race, finishing ahead of Crawford. Gabriele Minì completed the podium with an outstanding performance in his debut race, while a resilient Antonelli finished seventh.
Chequered flag at the Formula 2 Sprint Race in Baku! Joshua Durksen claims his first career victory after an impressive second half of the season. Jak Crawford finishes second, strengthening his solid fifth position in the championship standings.
But all eyes were on Gabriele Minì! In his first-ever Formula 2 race, the Palermo-born driver had a flawless start, allowing him to overtake Crawford from the outside. After overtaking Mansell for the lead, Gabriele Minì managed the race brilliantly until Joshua Durksen’s strong challenge in the final stages. A well-deserved comeback for Gabriele, especially after missing out on the Formula 3 title in the final corner at Monza!
Great race also for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was the protagonist of a furious comeback, overtaking Browning, Maloney, and Bortoleto in quick succession. A contact with Maini then dropped him back to seventh position, but it was another excellent performance for the Bologna-based driver, especially with the front row start for tomorrow’s race in sight.
Regarding the championship, Hadjar finishes in twelfth place and out of the points, while Bortoleto is fifth, closing the gap to 6.5 points ahead of tomorrow’s Feature Race!
Sprint Race F2 Baku: the race report
After yesterday afternoon’s qualifying, due to the reverse grid of the top 10, Christian Mansell will start from pole position. The Australian driver is making his debut in Formula 2, as he replaces Roman Stanek at Trident for this race. Next to him on the grid will be Jak Crawford from DAMS, who is fifth in the championship with 105 points and already has a Feature Race win this season in Barcelona.
In third place is our Gabriele Minì, also making his Formula 2 debut like Mansell, as he replaces Ollie Bearman, who has moved to Formula 1 to substitute for the suspended Kevin Magnussen at Haas this weekend. It’s an excellent debut for the Palermo driver, who now has a great opportunity to score points in his first race.
Bortoleto will start from fifth, behind Durksen, and Maloney will be seventh. They will have a great chance to close the gap on the leader Hadjar, who will start from twentieth due to a brake issue in yesterday’s qualifying, ahead only of his teammate Pepe Martì and Niels Koolen. Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start from ninth but will have a great opportunity to line up from the front row tomorrow.
Mansell gets off to a great start, while Crawford has a sluggish launch and is overtaken on the outside by Minì and on the inside by Joshua Durksen. Just behind them, Maini makes an aggressive move to pass Bortoleto, who also loses positions to Maloney and Martins, dropping to eighth. Antonelli is in tenth, behind fellow rookie Luke Browning, while Hadjar is already in sixteenth place.
The situation stabilizes at the start of the fourth lap, with all the drivers within DRS range of each other.
Minì is very close to Mansell, but at the moment he lacks the speed to mount an attack.
Behind, Andrea Kimi Antonelli sets the fastest lap and is very close to Browning, while Hadjar overtakes Correa for fifteenth place.
At the start of the seventh lap, Minì attacks Mansell on the inside of Turn 1 and manages to take the lead with a fantastic braking maneuver.
The Australian driver tries to counterattack on the straight between Turn 2 and Turn 3, but the Palermo driver defends excellently.
Minì tries to pull away and extend his lead to over a second, but he’s unable to achieve it. Meanwhile, Durksen overtakes Mansell and sets off in pursuit of the Palermo driver.
Behind, Martins tries to attack Maini but goes wide and loses the position back to Maloney. Meanwhile, Antonelli attempts to overtake Browning on the outside of Turn 3, but the ART driver defends his position very well.
Gabriele Minì’s Prema car seems to have good top speed, as he loses time in the second sector but manages to keep Joshua Durksen’s AIX at bay with a perfect final corner and a strong straight-line burst.
Behind, Martins attacks Maloney on the inside of Turn 4 and reclaims the position, while Antonelli continues to fume behind Browning but is unable to find a way past.
During the twelfth lap, Bortoleto attempts to overtake Maloney on the outside of Turn 1, but the Barbados driver defends very well. However, Maloney seems to be struggling, as he has dropped 3 seconds behind Martins.
Meanwhile, Andrea Kimi Antonelli finally manages to overtake Browning and sets off in pursuit of the points-scoring positions.
Durksen closes in significantly on Minì, who loses a bit of speed as he slides on the straight.
At the end of the straight, the Paraguayan driver manages to overtake Minì. Meanwhile, Bortoleto finally gets past Maloney, who has hit the wall hard at Turn 5. Behind, Goethe goes off track and returns to the race in last place.
During the thirteenth lap, Joshua Durksen pulls away, setting the fastest lap with a time of 1:57.038 and gaining a 2-second lead over Gabriele Minì. Minì now has to defend second place from Mansell. Meanwhile, Antonelli passes Maloney with ease and enters the points-scoring positions, while Aron overtakes Browning for tenth place.
In the following lap, both Crawford and Martins overtake Christian Mansell, who appears to be struggling, and they set off in pursuit of Minì. Meanwhile, a determined Antonelli forcefully passes Bortoleto and moves up to seventh place.
Meanwhile, Miyata, in an attempt to overtake Hauger, misjudges his braking and crashes violently into the barriers at Turn 3, bringing out the Safety Car.
After 3 laps, the Safety Car comes in, leaving 4 laps of action to go. Durksen waits until the last moment to restart, while Minì, possibly caught off guard, loses position to Crawford.
Behind, there’s a big chaos, with Mansell pushing Bortoleto into the wall, and Antonelli getting caught by Maini. Meanwhile, Aron takes advantage of the chaos and moves up to sixth place.
Chaos also unfolds behind, with Goethe hitting Cordeel head-on and sending him into a spin.
The final lap begins, with Durksen holding nearly a 2-second lead over Crawford, who in turn has a similar gap to Minì. Minì is defending against Martins. A thrilling finish is on the horizon!
Chequered flag! Joshua Durksen claims his first career win, showcasing an outstanding second half of the season. Jak Crawford finishes second, while Minì narrowly holds onto the podium, fending off Martins by just 20 thousandths of a second. The points positions are completed by Bortoleto, Aron, Antonelli, and Mansell.
PHOTO: FIA Formula 2.