Joshua Dürksen claimed victory in the Formula 2 (F2) Sprint Race at the 2026 Italian GP, finishing ahead of John Bennett and Oliver Goethe at Monza.
F2 returned to the track at Monza on Saturday for the Sprint Race, with Bennett lining up on reverse-grid pole alongside Goethe.
Friday’s Qualifying saw Rafael Câmara continue his impressive rookie campaign, securing his fifth pole position of the season. Invicta Racing teammate Dürksen completed a front-row lockout for Sunday’s Feature Race, while Alex Dunne finished third. Bennett’s P10 result handed the Van Amersfoort Racing driver the reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
The Stewards handed Gabriele Minì, Mari Boya, Dino Beganovic, Noel León, Sebastián Montoya, Kush Maini and Nikola Tsolov three-place grid penalties for both the Sprint and Feature Races following a series of incidents investigated after Qualifying.
Bennett holds firm as the fight for the podium heats up
After a slightly delayed start, Bennett led the field away in the F2 Sprint Race at Monza and defended his lead from Goethe. As Goethe attacked Bennett for the lead, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak seized the opportunity and moved ahead of the MP Motorsport driver. Dürksen also made a strong start, gaining three positions before putting Goethe under pressure in the fight for a podium place.
Tsolov continued to move forward and passed Miyata at the Parabolica. Goethe then attacked for P2, but the move cost him ground and dropped him to P5. Stenshorne quickly pressured him from behind as Goethe set his sights on recovering a podium position while keeping Tsolov behind. Inthraphuvasak took P2 after Dürksen had to give the position back twice. Goethe then recovered to P4 and stayed close to Dürksen in third, while championship leader Tsolov continued his charge through the field in the Campos Racing car.
Dürksen takes the lead as the Safety Car shakes up the order
As Dunne and Tsolov fought for P6 and made slight contact, Câmara spun and stopped on track after losing the engine while trying to turn his car back around. The incident brought out the Safety Car. At the restart, Bennett led the field into the first corner with Dürksen immediately applying pressure behind him. Bennett held onto the lead, but Dürksen stayed within one second of the Trident driver. Further back, Goethe tried to pass Inthraphuvasak but failed to make the move stick, losing some time to the ART GP driver in the process.
Dürksen eventually made his move for the lead on the start-finish straight, passing Bennett as the Trident driver offered little resistance to the Invicta Racing car behind him. Meanwhile, Miyata dropped from his starting position of P3 to P9, where Minì began putting him under pressure. Stenshorne passed Goethe for P4, while León closed in on the German as he looked to add more points to his tally. Inthraphuvasak then took the emergency exit and dropped back to P6, further reshuffling the order.
Late Safety Car sets up final Sprint Race showdown
With six laps remaining in the F2 Sprint Race at Monza, León began pressuring Goethe from behind as the German tried to fight his way back into the podium positions. Goethe stayed within one second of Stenshorne before making a move on the start-finish straight, but he ran through the braking zone immediately afterwards. Roman Bilinski then went off track at the Ascari chicane, bringing out a late Safety Car and bunching the field back together.
At the restart, Dürksen led the field away and maintained his advantage at the front. Further back, Tsolov attacked León and Stenshorne before passing Stenshorne for P5, while Dunne quickly began putting pressure on the Norwegian. Goethe came under renewed pressure from León, while Stenshorne ran wide and took the escape road. He then had to hand P5 back to Tsolov.
Joshua Dürksen went on to win the F2 Sprint Race at Monza, with Bennett finishing second and Goethe completing the podium in third.
