Azerbaijan Grand Prix: F2 Sprint Race Results

Who took the chequered flag first at the Baku City Circuit?

Freddie Cotton 3 min read

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Joshua Durksen took his first win of the season in Saturday’s Formula 2 Sprint Race.

Joshua Durksen celebrates winning the Sprint Race in Baku. (Photo by Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
What happened in qualifying?

It is fair to say, Friday’s qualifying session was an eventful introduction to the competitive racing in Baku.В?

Following the conclusion of the Formula 3 season in Monza, F2 welcomed three debutants on Friday afternoon. Both Christian Mansell and Luke Browning will race in the series for the remainder of the year, whilst Gabriele Mini is covering the spot vacated by Ollie Bearman this weekend. The PREMA Racing driver has made the step up to Formula 1 in Azerbaijan, debuting for future employers Haas as a result of Kevin Magnussen’s race ban.�

Red flag intermission

Perhaps the biggest news from the session was the early exit of both Campos Racing drivers. In what was a bizarre series of events, championship leader Isack Hadjar locked up and found the barrier at turn one, only to be joined by his teammate just moments later. As a result, the red flag was brought out and the session was temporarily suspended. At the time of the incident, Hadjar had set the ninth fastest time, however he fell to 15th by the time the chequered flag was waved. With just over four minutes remaining when the session resumed, it was a one-lap shootout to decide who would start on pole in both of the weekend’s races.

Frenzy to the line

For much of the session, it looked as though no one was going to dethrone Richard Verschoor from provisional pole after the Dutchman set a time of 1:55.65 on his second flying lap. However, in the closing stages, the times began to tumble. Within a matter of seconds, Kush Maini, Zane Maloney and Andrea Kimi Antonelli all set the fastest times, the latter of which looked certain to be the session’s best. That was until Verschoor, who was the final driver to take the chequered flag, crossed the line and rose to the summit of the field one final time. The Trident driver set a 1:54.857 on his final run, pipping Antonelli by only 0.017 seconds.

After finishing the qualifying session in tenth, Verschoor’s teammate Mansell would start Saturday’s Sprint Race from pole position, followed by Jak Crawford and Mini in second and third respectively.

 

Lights out

As the lights went out, Mansell did well to remain in the race lead, but the pack had been shuffled behind him. His fellow race debutant Mini got the jump on Crawford off the line who was also passed by Joshua Durksen. The Italian driver’s strong pace continued in the opening stages of the race as he managed to stick to the back of Mansell before passing his Trident on lap seven. Despite a promising start, the Australian was then also passed by Durksen and dropped to third within a short space of time.

After starting at the rear of the field, championship leader Hadjar made an impressive start to the race, rising six places to 14th by half race distance. Alternatively, both his championship rival Gabriel Bortoleto and Antonelli dropped places, sitting in eighth tenth respectively.

 

Race to the chequered flag

With ten laps of the race remaining, there was still plenty to be decided before the chequered flag was waved. After a difficult start, Antonelli rose three places in a matter of moments, passing Browning, Maloney and Bortoleto to sit seventh. Durksen also managed to fight his way by Mini before pulling away from the remainder of the field, this was short lived though. Rodin Motorsport’s Ritomo Miyata found the barrier at turn three on lap 15, subsequently bringing out the safety car.

When the race resumed, there were four laps remaining until a winner was crowned. Like Mansell in the early stages, Durksen managed to hold onto his race lead and once again pulled away from Crawford who had passed Mini at turn one. Victor Martins, Bortoleto, Paul Aron, Antonelli and Mansell served up the most entertaining action of the race, exchanging places multiple times within the next lap. However, it was Durksen who took the headlines, becoming the 15th different winner of the season as he took the chequered flag first at the Baku City Circuit. He was joined on the podium by Crawford in second and on his maiden F2 race, Mini edged out Martins to the line to secure third.

The full race classification can be found here.

Feature Image Credit: (Photo by James Sutton/Getty Images)

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