Joshua Dürksen was running well in the Formula 2 feature race, having risen five places on the first lap alone. However, his race dramatically ended at Woodcote after a collision with championship contender, Paul Aron. After the race had concluded, Dürksen discussed the incident exclusively with Feeder Series.

By Martin Lloyd

Dürksen has surprised many with his performances in F2 this season. Having made the step up from a difficult 2023, where he finished 19^th in FRECA, many were expecting the AIX Racing driver to struggle. However, he has surprised observers with a string of strong showings, including an impressive podium at Imola. Dürksen explained his perspective on the incident to Feeder Series.

“I was on the inside, he saw me, he just pushed me into the grass, left me no space, and on the grass there’s no grip. Then I lost control of the car and we collided, so yeah. Very, very sad what happened today.”

Dürksen was shaping for a move, before Aron cut in front of him, forcing the Paraguayan onto the wet grass on the inside of Woodcote. This rendered him a passenger, as he spun into the gravel and out of the race. Dürksen’s disappointment was compounded by his performance to that point. The Paraguayan had quickly reached the edge of the points and felt that he could have challenged the top 10 without the incident.

“I think this race would’ve been really good. We could’ve got some points for sure. I started 16th, I was 11th already after one lap, and I was coming with a good pace. I think top 5 would be difficult, but top 10 was achievable.”

Meanwhile, Franco Colapinto enjoyed another points-scoring performance, finishing fourth. He was the fastest of the runners on the alternate strategy and looked to have the pace to challenge the podium finishers with his fresh soft tyres, but those tyres degraded before he could attack. 

The safety car was required on multiple occasions in the early stages. Firstly, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was pitched into a spin by Kush Maini on Lap 1, before Dürksen’s incident caused an intervention. Colapinto felt that the opportunity to preserve tyres disadvantaged those who started on hard tyres, as they were unable to capitalise to the usual extent of the degradation of soft-shod runners.

“First of all I think we were really unlucky with the safety cars at the beginning,” he said. “The people on the option at the beginning of the race didn’t go through the degradation phase, it looked like they didn’t drop on the tyres. The pace of the car was really good, we were really strong and looked very fast, unfortunately, I think we lost something at the start.”

Another runner on the alternate strategy was Crawford’s teammate, Juan Manuel Correa. The American was running five seconds behind Colapinto when they elected to pit, but his right-rear tyre was not attached properly at the pit stop. Correa was able to continue in the race, but any chance of points had been lost – Correa felt that without the issue, he could have complemented Crawford’s strong haul of points.

“I think we would’ve finished right behind Franco,” said Correa. “He had a bit more pace in the prime stint, but I was the second quickest. We would’ve come out around P6, I think like him, and probably gain a couple of positions, so it would’ve been a very good day from P14.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency