Joshua Dürksen took his third sprint race win of the 2026 Formula 2 season around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The Invicta Racing driver made up six spots to run out victorious ahead of Trident’s John Bennett and MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe. Feeder Series got the top three drivers’ thoughts on managing the race in the post-race press conference.

By Cliona Sheerin

Dürksen gained three positions on the opening lap on his way to victory, taking full advantage of the abundance of overtaking opportunities around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza to make up the remaining ground in the first half of the race. He then set the fastest lap, a 1:33.616 on lap 13, to give him a full complement of 11 points.

“Monza always gives a better chance to overtake comparing to other tracks,” Dürksen told Feeder Series post-race. “I think Monza is the best track, actually, during the year in order to make some moves. I knew it from the start that I had very good chances because the same thing happened last year as well, and from what I’ve seen from other races from F3 as well, where guys from, I don’t know, P20 went to the top five or something. So I knew that Monza is always like this. 

“I felt the pace was good. It’s always tricky to overtake because the other guys know how to defend and how to extract the best as well, so it’s never easy, but the good pace helps a lot to make these overtakes happen earlier.”

It was an even start for the front pair of Bennett and Goethe. The Englishman immediately faded to the right-hand side of the track to protect his lead on the long run down to the first chicane, and that he did with Goethe the one under pressure from the fast-starting Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak behind. After passing Ritomo Miyata almost instantly off the line, the ART driver went to the outside of Goethe at the first part of the chicane, which turned into the inside line and second place on the road.

But it was Dürksen who made up the most places on the opening lap, getting around the Rodin pair of Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne on the start-finish straight before pulling off an overtake on Miyata around the outside of the first part of the Roggia chicane to go into fourth. 

On lap three, Goethe tried to regain second place by taking to the inside of Inthraphuvasak at the Rettifilo chicane, but the German driver was pushed to the edge of the track on exit, which allowed Dürksen to pick up the pieces and move up another position. The Invicta driver tried to pass Inthraphuvasak for second on lap three on the outside of the Roggia Chicane, but he ran out of road and conceded the place to the ART Grand Prix on the exit of the first Lesmo. Dürksen didn’t have to wait long for his next opportunity, however, successfully getting by on the front straight on the next tour.

Lap five saw the first notable incident of the race, as fighting between Dunne and Nikola Tsolov for seventh position led to a concertina effect that backed up the pack on the exit of the first chicane. Feature race polesitter Rafael Câmara tapped Miyata before Nico Varrone made contact with the rear of the Invicta car, sending him round. Câmara managed to get his car pointing back in the right direction, only to stall the engine and bring his race to an end. 

The safety car was deployed on that lap to recover Câmara’s car, eradicating Bennett’s lead, which had stood at over two seconds. He held on for the restart on lap seven and on the subsequent tour, but Dürksen kept the pressure on the Trident and breezed past on the main straight on lap nine with the aid of DRS.

Inthraphuvasak, Goethe and Stenshorne meanwhile battled for the final place on the podium, with Stenshorne moving past Goethe and into fourth through a move around the outside of the first corner on lap 11. On the following lap, Inthraphuvasak went straight on at the same corner and found himself behind Stenshorne and Goethe upon rejoining. Noel León then added salt to Inthraphuvasak’s wound with a move up the inside of the Roggia chicane, and Tsolov and Dunne got around the Thai driver on the next lap as he slipped further down the order. 

Goethe then got back past Stenshorne for third at the Rettifilo chicane on lap 16, with four seconds to make up to the leading pair.

That gap dissipated on the next lap, however, as a spin for Roman Bilinski brought out the safety car once more. The DAMS driver lost the car on the exit of the Ascari chicane, sliding across the track before hitting a speed marker and the wall on the left-hand side. 

The late safety car that ensued closed the pack back up, with Dürksen controlling the pace heading on to the restart on lap 20 of 21. 

“We had a quite solid gap,” Dürksen told Feeder Series about his approach to the race’s resumption. “I don’t want to say the race was relaxed, but we were, let’s say, in a safe spot. I wasn’t bothered about the safety car restart. It was good. The target was to have the tyres ready for the first corner as well as the brakes, because these brakes have their sweet spot. So if you’re not in [the sweet spot], it’s very easy to lock up and go straight or make an easy mistake. That was the main focus.

“I was just pushing as hard as I could just to make sure to break that gap on this one lap where John doesn’t have DRS, which worked well. And then I was on the last lap just bringing the car home, driving as normal, not doing any unnecessary risks.”

“Myself and Josh had built quite a huge gap behind, so that was something to factor in, but then it also gave me an opportunity to fight again for the win,” Bennett said. “It was really just making sure the brakes are in. T1 can be very tricky after a safety car restart, but I knew my tyres were in quite good shape. I wasn’t worried, really, by any of the cars behind. I knew they were fighting a lot, whereas I was really just managing things out front.”

“It relieved a bit of pressure. They had DRS behind me and I didn’t have any, so it was definitely quite good for me,” Goethe added. “In the end I had an okay restart, but not really good enough to attack in front.”

The top three remained unchanged until the chequered flag as Dürksen crossed the line with a 1.263s advantage over Bennett to take his seventh win in the series. That result put him level on the all-time list with Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Frederik Vesti and Oliver Bearman and made him the driver with the most wins in the Dallara F2 2024. It was the Paraguayan’s fourth podium in F2 at Monza in five attempts and the third year in succession that a driver from the Norfolk-based team won at the 5.793-kilometre track.

León came home fourth ahead of teammate Tsolov, who extended his lead in the championship over Câmara to 24 points following the Brazilian’s retirement and Minì’s 10th-place finish.

Stenshorne finished sixth after being overtaken by the Campos duo on the restart, with stablemate Dunne behind in seventh. Laurens van Hoepen secured the final point, rising from a starting position of 15th to cross the line eighth. The fast-starting Inthraphuvasak sank through the field after the final restart, missing the Rettifilo chicane on the penultimate lap and ultimately falling from ninth to 19th.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency