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Durksen makes history in F2, Antonelli in P7 in wild Sprint Race in Baku
Joshua Dürksen has won the entertaining Formula 2 Sprint Race in Azerbaijan. As a result, he became the first driver from Paraguay to win an F2 race in history. Zak Crawford finished in P2, while making his debut, Gabriele Mini finished in P3.
The F2 Sprint Race
The sprint race had an action-packed start in Formula 2, with two drivers making their debut leading the pack. Christian Mansell could remain in P1 from pole position with covering off Jak Crawford, while Gabriele Mini was up to second place. After the start, a classic DRS train formed on the track, and overtaking proved to be difficult for the drivers.
On Lap 7, Mini decided to make his move, and into Turn 1, he managed to overtake the Briton. A lap later, Joshua Dürksen could also overtake Mansell in the same corner, and got up P2 behind Mini. At the same corner, Victor Martins lost two positions and nearly hit the wall on the same lap, as the Frenchman fell back to P7.
On Lap 12, while Gabriel Bortoleto tried to put pressure on Zane Maloney, and Antonelli could overtake Luke Browning to get up to P9, Dürksen was all over Mini's gearbox. With DRS, the Paraguayan got the lead into Turn 1 on Lap 13, and Bortoleto also got up to P7.
Following that, the AIX driver could quickly build a healthy gap to Mini and Antonelli got up to P7 after overtaking first Maloney and then Bortoleto. Moreover, Mansell lost two positions from P3 in corner, as he was overtaken by both Crawford and Martins into Turn 1.
On Lap 15, the safety car got called out, as Ritomo Miyata found himself in the wall exiting Turn 3. Three laps later, the session could resume. Dürksen waited until the safety car line to push, resulting in chaos. The Paraguayan could keep his lead and Crawford got up to P2. Fighting to earn important points, Bortoleto could get up to P5, even as he touched the wall in Sector 2.
The top three then remained unchanged, as Mini could finish on of the podium in P3 with crossing the line just 0.020 seconds ahead of Victor Martins, after missing out on the F3 title just two weeks ago in Monza.
In terms of the F2 championship battle between Hadjar and Bortoleto, the Brazilian finished in P5, and gained four points on the Frenchman, as the Red Bull junior failed to score points. After his mistake in qualifying, Hadjar finished in P12. Already earning a promotion to Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli finished the sprint in seventh position.
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