ART Grand Prix’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak got his rookie F2 campaign off to a strong start at the 2026 season opener in Melbourne, securing a double-points finish as the Thai driver heads into the second round of the year. Reflecting on a strong opening weekend, the 20 year-old left Australia pleased with how his rookie season has begun.
Inthraphuvasak said: “So first weekend of the year, first round of the year, I think overall it was a very positive weekend for us. Scoring points in both races and sitting P5 in the Championship is not a bad way to start the season.”
“For sure there was a lot more potential, especially in the Sprint Race, but I think I learned a lot throughout the weekend, and just collected some experience for the rounds ahead.”
“I am happy with how the team is working, how everything is coming together, so I am looking forward to what is to come.”
Satisfied with current performance, yet always striving for more
Despite the success to celebrate, the weekend began poorly for Inthraphuvasak, who found himself in the barriers during Free Practice. However, he didn’t let it hold him back, saying: “The pace was super strong. Since the beginning of the weekend in Free Practice it was very good. I made a mistake in FP that got us into a crash but that didn’t set us back at all.”
After qualifying 10th on Friday, the Thai driver benefitted from the reverse-grid format and started on pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race. However, he narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing 4th. While he admitted that Qualifying had been a messy session, he is pleased with his current performance level and confident that stronger results are on the horizon.
“I think looking at Qualifying, it was a very messy session, but we still managed a top 10, so a lot of opportunities were open for both races, and I think I managed both quite well.”
“I am happy with how I am performing right now, I am performing at a very high level, so I am happy with everything. But I have to continue pushing forward with the team to achieve some better results in the future for sure.”
Key lessons from his first F2 Feature Race
Reflecting on his first F2 Feature Race, Inthraphuvasak acknowledged that while he showed strong pace moving up to 5th, he’d pushed a bit too hard and struggled with tyre degradation, ultimately finishing 6th. He further added that he and the team learned valuable lessons for the future.
“It was a very long race. Starting from P10 we had a lot of pace, so we progressed through the pack and I was sitting P5 at one point, I think. But there are a lot of things I have to learn. I pushed a bit too hard mid race which meant that at the end of the race I didn’t have any tyres left to keep up with [Ritomo] Miyata and a few other guys.”
“In the end, we had to settle with P6 but for sure I learned a lot through the race. I think we also as a team have to find out as well why we struggled so much in the end of the race.”
Beyond the challenges, Inthraphuvasak left the weekend extremely satisfied with what he and ART were able to achieve at the first weekend of the 2026 F2 season.
“But overall, it is super positive start, considering we started from P10. I think if we started a bit more Ahead then the podium was definitely possible.”
