FEATURE RACE: Duerksen wins again around Yas Marina

Joshua Duerksen signed off the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season on the top step once again, winning the Yas Marina Feature Race for AIX Racing. He headed up Roman Stanek, who claimed P2 and helped Invicta Racing retain the Teams’ Championship title. Gabriele Minì completed the podium for PREMA Racing in third place.

AS IT HAPPENED

At lights out, Stanek held onto the lead into Turn 1 while Dino Beganovic was able to slip down the inside of Leonardo Fornaroli for P3.

Into Turn 5 and that became second as the Swede passed Jak Crawford to continue his impressive opening lap. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was hit with another setback, as he received a 10-second stop/go penalty for not having tyres fitted within the allocated window.

A slipstream into Turn 9 gave Duerksen a chance on Fornaroli, and the AIX driver rounded his Invicta rival to take P4.

Crawford was called into the pitlane at the end of the opening lap to serve his penalty, promoting Beganovic and Duerksen up to second and third places respectively.

The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 2 after contact between Victor Martins and Alexander Dunne which left the Rodin Motorsport driver sideways. He was collected by Cian Shields out of Turn 7 and all three were out of the running as a result.

Back to racing entering Lap 6, and the top positions remained as they were. Stanek and Beganovic were in for their mandatory stops at the end of Lap 7, while Duerksen remained on circuit with Fornaroli, though the Champion was running the Mediums from the start.

The polesitter emerged ahead of Beganovic, but the gap was less than half a second as they re-entered the track. With a slipstream to Turn 5, the Hitech TGR driver swept past Stanek to take P15 on the road, while Duerksen was called in by AIX to respond to their stops.

A great in-lap and clean stop got the Paraguayan back out ahead of Beganovic and Stanek, with a two-second gap to spare.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 11 as Sebastián Montoya slowed to a halt ahead of Turn 14 and needed recovering and was converted into a full Safety Car on Lap 12.

The Safety Car was back in going into Lap 15, leaving new race leader Fornaroli to try and build a gap to Duerksen, who headed up those to have already pitted, in ninth position.

Beganovic had been in contention for victory, but a five-second time penalty was handed down for speeding in the pitlane.

Lap 17 and Lindblad was back onto the rear wing of Fornaroli. A look around the outside of Turn 9 didn’t quite pay off, but the duo was 2.2s clear of Richard Verschoor, who’d climbed up to third.

Fornaroli came under pressure on Lap 21, as Lindblad got through, but only temporarily, before the Invicta slipstreamed his way back through on the run to Turn 9 to hold onto P1.

Lap 22 and a dive into Turn 5 by Lindblad put himself and Fornaroli side-by-side heading to Turn 9 once again, he was finally able to make a pass stick to take over in the lead.

Crawford was continuing his comeback drive and cleared Fornaroli into Turn 5 on Lap 24. DRS for the Champion got him back ahead though into Turn 9. The American got his move done two laps later to take second on the road at Turn 5.

With three laps to go, Lindblad was called in for his mandatory stop, and was followed in by Fornaroli, rejoining down in 12th and 13th places respectively.

Crawford and Verschoor followed suit for their stops on the next lap, handing the lead of the race to Duerksen. The DAMS driver rejoined side-by-side with Lindblad, but with tyres up to temperature the Sprint Race victor was able to take the place.

After his podium on Saturday, Duerksen made it two-in-a-row around Yas Marina, winning the Feature Race for the second season in a row.

Stanek resisted a late charge by Gabriele Minì to take second, sealing the Teams’ Championship for Invicta. The PREMA Racing driver earned P3 by 0.2s over Beganovic, who dropped off the podium to fourth with his penalty applied.

Oliver Goethe was P5 ahead of Rafael Villagómez, Kush Maini, Ritomo Miyata was eighth as Lindblad and Crawford climbed back into the points following their late stops in ninth and 10th.

KEY QUOTE – Joshua Duerksen, AIX Racing

“What a way to finish the season, P1 in the race. Copy-paste from last year, starting P8 finishing P1. What a way to finish this chapter with AIX Racing. I’m so grateful and they’ve done an amazing job and a mega race. We had great pace, nailed it on the strategy, pitstop and it was really amazing. I’m really grateful to all of you guys, my family, my sponsors, God and I will see you all next year.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Fornaroli is of course the 2025 Champion but Crawford’s recovery into the points seals P2 in the Drivers’ Championship for the American. Richard Verschoor signs off in F2 with third place ahead of Luke Browning and Alexander Dunne in the top five.

Invicta Racing retain their status as Formula 2 Teams’ Champions after Stanek’s podium. Hitech TGR finish the year in second place ahead of Campos Racing in third. DAMS Lucas Oil and MP Motorsport end the year tied on 207 points, but it’s the French team that take fourth on countback.

UP NEXT

The racing season is over but FIA Formula 2 will be back on track around Yas Marina Circuit for post-season testing from 10-12 December. Follow all of the sessions live on the official website and via F2 social media channels.