Duerksen surges to Spa F2 Sprint victory

Joshua Duerksen charged to the front at Spa-Francorchamps' Formula 2 Championship Sprint Race, then held off Martinius Stenshorne in a last-lap shootout to take his second win of the season. The Invicta Racing driver took the lead halfway through the race, before managing a late safety car restart well to come out on top ahead of Stenshorne and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic.

It was a good start for polesitter Sebastián Montoya, who stayed ahead of Stenshorne at Turn 1 while Roman Bilinski was slow off the line and dropped down the order from third to eighth. The fight for the lead was not over however, as Stenshorne used the tow to good effect to go around the outside of the PREMA driver into Les Combes.

Duerksen was next to try a move on Montoya, trying to go wheel to wheel through the final chicane, but the Colombian held on. Montoya had steadied the ship and with DRS, closed in on Stenshorne on lap 3, with Duerksen and Beganovic looking on, as the top four pulled away from Nikola Tsolov.

However, a couple of laps later, the Rodin driver had pulled out a 1.3s lead. Further down the field, MP Motorsport duo Oliver Goethe and Gabriele Minì overtook Nico Varrone for 11th and 12th down into Les Combes. Without the DRS advantage, Montoya could then not stop Duerksen from overtaking him for second place down the Kemmel Straight.

The safety car was called upon moments later after Cian Shields wound up in the barrier at the exit of Turn 7 after a wheel-to-wheel battle with Ritomo Miyata. Racing resumed on lap 8 and Stenshorne maintained his lead over Duerksen, while Beganovic defended fourth place from Tsolov into Les Combes.

The DAMS driver turned defense into attack on lap 10, taking advantage of Montoya’s lock-up at La Source to overtake his rival down the Kemmel Straight to put him in P3. Tsolov looked to follow him through with a move to the inside at Turn 9, but the PREMA driver shut the door.

Out in front, Duerksen was right on the rear of Stenshorne, and the Paraguayan bided his time before taking the lead of the race into Les Combes. The Norwegian stayed close to his Invicta rival on the next set of laps, but even with the help of DRS he could not find a way past.

In the championship fight, it was a tough day for Minì, who retired his car in the pitlane. His title rival Rafael Câmara was making his move as he overtook Bennett for seventh down the Kemmel Straight on Lap 13.

The Trident driver’s day was over soon after as he spun into a stoppage at Blanchimont, bringing out the safety car. It was withdrawn on the penultimate lap and Duerksen had a good restart to keep the lead on the final lap.

Meanwhile Tsolov caught Montoya by surprise with a move to the inside at Turn 1 for fourth place. This opened the door for Alexander Dunne, as he went side-by-side with the PREMA through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, before taking P5 as Montoya ran wide. The Colombian filtered back out onto the track behind Câmara and Bilinski before Goethe overtook him into Les Combes, demoting him to ninth and outside of the points.

At the front, Duerksen withstood the pressure to earn his second victory of the season and Invicta’s third consecutive win at Spa – following its 2025 successes with Leonardo Fornaroli and Roman Stanek. Stenshorne finished in second ahead of Beganovic, as Tsolov, Dunne and Câmara followed. Bilinski wound up in seventh, as Goethe took the final point in eighth.

Hitech's Colton Herta finished 13th.

“Finally another win. It has been a long time since I’ve been here, but we have kept working hard and we never gave up," said Duerksen. "Finally we had the pace, and we had the opportunity to be here so just super happy and super thankful.”

The F2 drivers will return to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday morning for the Feature Race at 10:00 local time.

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