Crawford sails to victory after strong F2 Imola sprint start - Motorsport

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Jak Crawford stormed to victory at the F2 sprint race at the Imola GP after starting on the front row. This is his first win of the 2025 season for DAMS Lucas Oil.

Lindblad, though attempting to catch up to the leader in the final laps of the race, crossed the line in P2.

The race was close for the final podium position as both Martins and Dunne were catching up to Browning in third. Though unable to overtake in the end, Dunne ended the race only two tenths behind Martins in fourth.

Lights out for the sprint!

Yesterday’s F2 qualifying session in Imola had a controversial finish following an early end to the session after Kush Maini brought out the red flags. Still with six minutes left of the session to go, this meant that a large portion of the field did not get to complete their final flying laps.

Hitech GTR’s Dino Beganovic was the fastest man on track, followed by Sebastián Montoya and Victor Martins.

Following F2’s usual reverse top-10 grid for sprint races, on the front row for the Imola GP sprint sat Ritomo Miyata next to Jak Crawford.

As the lights went out, Miyata and Crawford had equal starts off the line. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver quickly took the lead from the Japanese driver in the race’s opening corners.

Lindblad, starting from fifth, had a strong start and was up to third in the first few corners. The Red Bull Junior was soon under pressure from Luke Browning who tried to take the final podium position, though was unsuccessful.

Championship leader Verschoor, starting all the way down in P19, was up to 16th in the first lap.

The race start was not without its drama. Meguetounif failed to get off the line from P16. He stalled his car and had to go through the pit lane to continue in the race, losing six places.

Marti and Mini made contact in Turn One, which will be investigated after the race.

Crawford keeping his lead as Miyata moves down the field

After a strong start to take the lead of the Imola GP sprint race, Crawford kept his lead with a clear gap to the cars behind him. By lap 6, Miyata was within DRS of the race leader, though was unable to get close to the DAMS Lucas Oil driver.

As it is so difficult to overtake on Imola’s narrow track, a DRS train formed behind Martins in P5 of almost ten cars by Lap 6.

By Lap 11, Miyata had lost DRS to Crawford and was under threat by Lindblad. Lindblad was briefly ahead, though Miyata managed to briefly hold onto his position, going around the outside of the Campos Racing driver. One lap later, Lindblad completed the move and gained second place.

Miyata’s struggles only got worse as Browning overtook him on lap 14. One lap later, Miyata lost another place to his ART Grand Prix teammate Martins.

Tomorrow’s pole sitter Benagovic looked to make a move for the final point’s position, but ran wide and dipped two wheels in the gravel. This put him back down to 10th, where he began the race.

Durksen, up six places from the start of the race, lost the final points scoring position on Lap 17 to Stanek.

Championship leader struggling

First and second in the championship Verschoor and Martí both struggled to make an impact and were only 15th and 16th by Lap 18. Verschoor was caught out in qualifying yesterday and started the race down in P19.

Third in the championship, Fornaroli, comfortably kept his starting position P7 until Lap 20 when he became under pressure by his Invicta Racing teammate.

Fighting to keep the final podium position, Browning’s lap times began to slow by Lap 22. Martins and Dunne were keen to speed up behind to catch him up.

Rodin Motorsport’s Cordeel briefly brought out the yellow flags as he took a trip in the gravel. The track went green again, though gave an extra challenge to the drivers as gravel was spread over the track.

Verschoor’s struggles only got worse as he eventually retired the car with a suspected technical issue.

Fights for the podium

In the closing stages of the races, Lindblad was catching up to Crawford for the F2 Imola GP sprint race win.

The Campos Racing driver was putting in faster lap times, though was unable to get the benefit of DRS on the race’s penultimate lap to get any closer to the race leader.

The competition was even hotter for the final podium position. Dunne in P5 was sticking close to Martins. The ART Grand Prix driver had the benefit of DRS from Browning ahead of him and used it effectively to fend off Dunne behind him.

Though the three crossed the line close together, Browning kept P3 with Martins and Dunne behind him.