Joshua Dürksen is one-half of PHM Racing’s all-rookie lineup in Formula 2 this year. The 20-year-old Paraguayan driver has stepped up straight from Formula Regional, skipping F3 altogether. In Melbourne, he spoke with Feeder Series about how he is adjusting to life as an F2 driver.

By Steven Walton

Making the jump into F2 is tough for any driver. For PHM Racing driver Joshua Dürksen, the task comes with extra challenges.

He has skipped a step on the traditional feeder series ladder, going straight to F2 after racing in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) for two years.

The 620-horsepower, 3.4-litre V6 Mecachrome engine in the Dallara F2 2024 car has more than twice the horsepower of the 1.8-litre, four-cylinder Alpine Oreca engine used in FRECA’s Tatuus F3-T318 car. The more powerful machines in F2 mean drivers’ lap times are usually 10 to 15 seconds faster than those set in FRECA.

He also has little time to adapt: F2 provides significantly less practice time, and the first three tracks on the F2 calendar – Bahrain, Jeddah and Melbourne – were all new for Dürksen.

Of the 10 rookies on the grid, Dürksen is one of just two without an experienced teammate to lean on, the other being PHM teammate Taylor Barnard.

Dürksen ‘quite happy’ with progress

Dürksen didn’t seem worried about those circumstances when he spoke to Feeder Series on Friday in the Melbourne F2 paddock. 

He cut a confident figure and said he was feeling good about his start to life in the championship.

“To be honest, I’m quite happy with the progress I’m doing. I’m getting more confidence with the car, a better understanding of how it works,” he said.

“My mindset for this season is just learn as much as possible. I don’t really focus on the results yet. I’m like, ‘Okay, this is a big step. I need to learn a lot,’ and then as soon as I learn more and more and more, the results will come by itself.”

Learning opportunities are not always as plentiful in F2, which has only one 45-minute practice session each weekend. In FRECA, Dürksen had the luxury of testing and two free practice sessions before a race weekend, allowing him adequate time to find a rhythm and try different setups.

“But here, [it’s] really difficult because you only have one free practice. It’s a new track for me, new car, and then you have to get a good reference in with five laps [in practice],” he said. 

“It challenges us as drivers to really push from the first lap and somehow just get used to it quickly.”

The 2024 season so far

The three tracks F2 has visited this year have all been new to Dürksen, though he has not looked out of place.

He leads Barnard three to one in races in which they have both made it to the end.

In Saudi Arabia, Dürksen almost delivered PHM Racing their first-ever F2 points after a scoreless 2023.

He finished ninth on the road in the feature race but was later demoted to 12th because of a 10-second penalty for overtaking Zak O’Sullivan off the track at the first chicane.

“I had really good pace. I mean, I was fighting for the top ten and I was P9 on the track, so in theory that would be my first points,” he said.

“Especially on the race runs, I’ve felt quite good. … I think that’s where we’ve had better pace than in qualifying.”

How does F2 compare to FRECA?

Dürksen said the driving style of the new F2 car was not hugely different from the Formula Regional car that he raced in 2022 and 2023.

“I think the [F2] car overall just feels a lot quicker, of course – a lot more of downforce, a lot more of grip of the tyres, a lot more of braking performance, everything a lot more,” he said.

He said he now had a good baseline understanding of the F2 car and found it more predictable than the Formula Regional car. 

“The F2 car you can do the same thing every time again and it’s going to react the same way. On the FRECA [car], sometimes you can do the same thing, but it’s going to be completely different,” he said. “The more laps I do [in F2], the more knowledge I will have”.

What’s possible?

Dürksen said his target before the season began was to be in the top 15 in every race.

“Now after some races, my target is already to be really close to the top 10, top 12. I think that’s the range where I can see myself for this season,” he said.

“I don’t think anybody in the paddock is expecting big things, so actually I can just focus really on my learning curve, on just getting adapted to the track.

“I mean pressure-wise, it comes mostly from me, just to really perform, to be there. I need a bit of patience as well because I want to be doing it immediately, but it’s step-by-step progress.”

Header photo credit: Diederik van der Laan / Dutch Photo Agency