Duerksen Wins F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race

Joshua Duerksen won the F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race at Monza after carving through the field from seventh on the grid, controlling the late Safety Car restart to take his third sprint win of the season and become Formula 2’s most-podiumed driver at the Italian circuit. John Bennett held on from reverse grid pole for second on his 50th F2 start, with Oliver Goethe completing the podium for MP Motorsport. Rafael Câmara, who takes pole for Sunday’s Feature Race, retired early after contact with Nico Varrone, a result that leaves his title bid under more pressure heading into Sunday.

Key Points: F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race

• Duerksen wins the F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race from P7, his third sprint victory of the season, making him Formula 2’s most-podiumed driver at Monza
• Bennett holds on from reverse grid pole for second on his 50th F2 start, Goethe completes the podium for MP Motorsport
• Two Safety Cars shape the race: Câmara retires after contact with Varrone, Bilinski spins at the Ascari exit on Lap 17
• Duerksen takes the lead from Bennett into Turn 1 on Lap 9 with DRS, then controls the late restart to escape untroubled to the flag
• Câmara’s retirement leaves him third in the championship, 26 points off Tsolov, but he takes pole for Sunday’s Feature Race regardless
• Tsolov leads the Drivers’ Championship on 171 points after finishing fifth, Campos Racing stretch their Teams’ lead to 270

Race Recap: F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race

The Start: Bennett Covers Off, Duerksen on the Move

Bennett started from reverse grid pole, the reward for his qualifying result on Friday, and he covered off Goethe to hold the lead into Turn 1. That let Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak through to second at the first chicane. Behind them Duerksen was already on the charge, up to fourth by the first Lesmo after passing Martinius Stenshorne. Lap two brought Nikola Tsolov past Ritomo Miyata for sixth.

Lap three, Duerksen took third from Goethe, who then lost the place to Stenshorne on the run to Turn 4 as well. Their battling let Bennett escape two seconds clear and out of DRS range. Duerksen tried the outside of Inthraphuvasak into Turn 1 at the start of lap four but had to back out and stayed third. Tsolov lost out to Campos teammate Noel León on traction out of the second chicane and dropped to seventh.

First Safety Car: Câmara Out

Lap five, Duerksen nailed a DRS pass on Inthraphuvasak for second. Behind him Alexander Dunne and Tsolov went wheel to wheel in the opening chicane and ran deep into Turn 2, dropping both down to eighth and ninth. Right behind that battle, Feature Race pole sitter Rafael Câmara was spun around after contact with Nico Varrone on corner exit and stalled, out of the running while fighting on the edge of the points. The Safety Car came out to recover the stationary Invicta car, with racing resuming at the start of lap seven. Bennett kept Duerksen behind him into the first corners.

Duerksen Takes the Lead

León cleared Stenshorne into the final corner for fifth, though the Norwegian fought back through at Turn 1 the following lap. Duerksen, glued to Bennett’s rear wing, used DRS to take the lead into Turn 1 on lap nine. A small error through Ascari on lap eleven put Goethe under pressure from Stenshorne, and with a tow from Inthraphuvasak ahead the Rodin car moved into fourth.

Lap twelve, a lock-up at Turn 1 sent Inthraphuvasak across the escape road and dropped him from third to fifth. León dived down the outside at Turn 4 to demote the Thai driver to sixth, and Tsolov took the place the following lap moving down the inside at Turn 1. Dunne pulled off a switchback into the second chicane to move up to seventh. On lap sixteen Goethe went back through on Stenshorne with DRS, getting alongside and ahead under braking into Turn 1 for third.

Second Safety Car: Bilinski Spins

Roman Bilinski was left stranded on the side of the track after a spin on the Ascari exit, bringing out the Safety Car on lap seventeen. With the DAMS Lucas Oil car cleared away, racing resumed heading into lap twenty of twenty-one, and Duerksen retained the lead across the line. León secured fourth from Stenshorne at Turn 1, going around the outside of the Rodin car. Tsolov followed at the first Lesmo but had lost touch with the Mexican ahead. On the final lap Stenshorne attempted a pass on León, out-braked himself and cut across the chicane, letting Tsolov back through ahead of Turn 4 and leaving Stenshorne to settle into sixth.

To the Flag

Having controlled the restart, Duerksen had already bolted and escaped DRS range for an untroubled run to the line. Bennett secured second for TRIDENT ahead of Goethe in third for MP Motorsport. León finished fourth ahead of teammate Tsolov, then the Rodin pair of Stenshorne and Dunne, with Laurens van Hoepen completing the points in eighth for a double score for TRIDENT.

Final Classification: F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race

Fastest lap went to Duerksen, a 1:33.616 on lap thirteen, which also earned him the fastest-lap bonus point.

Championship Standings: F2 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Race

Câmara’s retirement leaves him third on 145, two behind Minì and 26 off Tsolov at the top. Dunne stays fourth on 110 after his own tangle with Tsolov in the opening laps, León sits fifth on 99 after his charge through the field. Campos Racing lead the Teams’ Championship on 270 points, with Invicta Racing second on 198, MP Motorsport third on 182, Rodin Motorsport fourth on 172 and ART Grand Prix fifth on 147.

Up Next

All eyes turn to Sunday’s Feature Race, with Câmara set to start from pole position for Invicta Racing despite his sprint retirement, Duerksen alongside him on the front row after winning Saturday’s Sprint. Lights out is scheduled for 09:45 local time.

Coffee Corner Take

Seventh to first. Two Safety Cars in the way. Duerksen won it by controlling it. The restart on lap seven, the restart on lap twenty, both times he came out the other side in the right place. You don’t control two restarts like that by accident.

Fifty starts in this championship and Bennett is still finding podiums from reverse grid pole. He held Duerksen off for as long as the pace allowed. Second made his 50th F2 start worth remembering.

Pole for Sunday sitting next to a DNF from Saturday. That’s the position Câmara finds himself in. Third in the championship, two points off Minì, lining up at the front of the Feature Race grid without a race distance behind him from Saturday. He starts Sunday from pole, but Saturday gave him nothing useful to build from.

Fifth place doesn’t look like a championship-defining result on paper for Tsolov. It doesn’t need to be. He’s still leading by 24 over Minì and 26 over Câmara, and a steady Saturday that keeps the points ticking over is exactly the kind of afternoon a championship leader wants when the fight around him gets messy.

Monza tends to reward whoever handles the restarts best. Câmara arrives off a DNF. Duerksen arrives off a win. He has already shown he can handle the pressure.