The 2024 campaign was a hugely positive campaign for Formula 2’s newest team. AIX Racing made continued improvements from start to finish, culminating in a maiden Feature Race win for Joshua Duerksen at the Yas Marina finale after several impressive results throughout the year.

This season, the team will now be seeking to press on after their solid foundations were formed in the new era of F2. Duersken is joined by new recruit Cian Shields, and with a fuller understanding of the current generation of car, the expectations will grow.

It took a little while to click for the Paraguayan driver last season but once it did, he was a common factor inside the top 10 fighting for regular points and podiums.

The team’s season started off with several tricky rounds, either just missing out on points or suffering retirements for various reasons. Duerksen then earned a maiden podium at Imola, before returning to the points in Spielberg.

The tail end of the European leg of the season was where things really kicked on however, as he began a run of six races in the points, including another podium result and a maiden F2 victory as the Championship made its way to Baku for the pre-penultimate round. Capping off his rookie year with Feature Race victory at Yas Marina, done on pure pace, will fill him and the team with confidence for what’s to come.

2025 then is a season that holds great potential for AIX and Duerksen, as he aims to press on from where he left off last time out and capitalise on his momentum, make further improvements this time around and become a regular podium contender.

The way in which he and the team grew into the season bodes well for this year, with a large databank of which they can now rely on, the direction should be upwards for AIX. Duerksen appears to have found his footing in F2, and with a year of experience under his belt, he should be able to hit the ground running come Melbourne.

Duerksen was able to finish 2024 on the highest note with victory and will hope to carry that into 2025
Duerksen was able to finish 2024 on the highest note with victory and will hope to carry that into 2025

New arrival Cian Shields made his debut in FIA F3 last season and secured vital experience in the Championship ahead of his promotion to F2. His move to AIX comes with a degree of learning once again, but he has already been able to build his experience levels by racing in the final two rounds of the 2024 campaign for the team.

He narrowly missed out on points in his maiden weekend, finishing 11th in the Lusail Feature Race, but his adaptation and learning processes are already well underway ahead of his first full campaign in the Championship, helped by the post and pre-season tests before racing resumes in Melbourne in March.

He has a new and strong teammate to learn from, as Duerksen was able to demonstrate just how quickly he and the team could make improvements that showed in results. Shields will be aiming to repeat those efforts this time around in 2025.

Shields got a headstart on his AIX integration running the final two rounds of 2024 with the team
Shields got a headstart on his AIX integration, running the final two rounds of 2024 with the team

AIX grew into the year and by the end were able to find speed to ensure a top 10 starting position in both races, enabling Duerksen to reel off regular points finishes that lifted him into the top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship.

Shields will have a learning curve to overcome but there is no reason why he can’t achieve some strong results in the first third of the year if AIX’s 2024 performances continue to be improved upon. The team was able to demonstrate last year that they could help their drivers develop, and that quickly turned into results and podiums from a difficult starting point.

Duerksen had set the goal for himself to fight for points at the beginning of last year, so another step forward will surely be to contend for more victories in 2025. The combination looks capable of achieving that based on last year’s efforts.