SPRINT RACE: Martí takes second win of 2025 after early Red Flag

Josep María Martí added a second race victory to his tally this season, winning the Spielberg Sprint Race for Campos Racing.

The Spaniard lined up fifth on the grid but got a great start and later made his way by Joshua Duerksen for the race lead. The AIX Racing driver finished where he started in P2, with Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek completing the podium in third.

AS IT HAPPENED

Duerksen got the better launch from the front row to take the lead immediately. He was followed by Stanek, Martí and Amaury Cordeel, who each jumped pole-sitter John Bennett in the opening exchanges at Turn 1.

Up to Turn 3 and Martí dived down the inside of Stanek, taking second position on the run to Turn 4. Behind them, title rivals Richard Verschoor and Alexander Dunne fought for P6.

The Dutch driver narrowly came out in front through Turns 4 and 5, allowing Leonardo Fornaroli to take advantage of the Rodin Motorsport rookie's lost momentum, before demoting the Irishman to P8.

Onto Lap 2 and the Red Flag was waving after a multi-car collision at Turn 3 between Luke Browning, Arvid Lindblad and Sami Meguetounif that left the TRIDENT car upside down.

All three were OK and out of their cars, which needed to be cleared away with the race neutralised.

The race was resumed with a rolling restart, and Duerksen got a good launch to establish a buffer over Martí and Stanek in second and third.

Through Turns 6, 7 and 8, Gabriele Minì rounded Dunne for eighth position just before a Safety Car was deployed with Dino Beganovic stationary at Turn 3 following contact with Oliver Goethe.

Dunne was then awarded a five-second time penalty during the Safety Car period after he was judged to have jumped the original start of the race.

Duerksen got racing back underway once again with a good restart ahead of Turn 9, leaving Martí to defend second place from Stanek.

Onto Lap 9 and Dunne lost two more spots to Sebastián Montoya and Victor Martins at Turns 3 and 4, demoting him to P11.

Montoya was on the attack again on the following lap, taking advantage of Martins going deep at Turn 3 to take ninth on the run to the fourth corner.

A fastest lap for Martí on Lap 11 brought him back into DRS range of the race leader, as he sat 0.8s behind P1.

Lap 15 and Dunne muscled his way back through on Martins for P10 at Turn 3.

With DRS on Lap 17, Martí forced Duerksen to defend into Turn 3 and with a better run down to Turn 4, took the lead of the Sprint around the outside of the AIX driver. But the Paraguayan immediately hit back with a dive down the inside of Turn 6 to retake P1.

Lap 18 and Martí seized a chance at Turn 3, diving down the inside to move back ahead of his rival for the race lead.

After a few laps in his wake, Verschoor completed a crucial pass on Bennett on Lap 24 to take fifth position at Turn 4, despite running deep on corner exit.

Into the final three laps and Minì then pulled off a brave move on the Van Amersfoort Racing driver at Turn 7 to move up to sixth.

Onto the penultimate lap and Stanek went wheel-to-wheel with Duerksen at Turn 4 but couldn’t make a move stick.

Duerksen defended from the Czech at Turn 3 on the final lap, but just behind them, Cordeel suffered a spin, and he was collected by Minì, Fornaroli and Bennett.

Martí was a comfortable winner by just under three seconds as Duerksen held off Stanek in second and third.

Verschoor was promoted up to P4 following Cordeel’s spin, with Montoya, Dunne, Martins and Ritomo Miyata completing the points down to eighth position.

KEY QUOTE – Josep María Martí, Campos Racing

“One step better than last year so very, very happy about it. We had really, really good pace and even with the three-place grid drop we managed to get the win. Hoping for a good result tomorrow to keep building this momentum and get good points and head into Silverstone in a good manner.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Dunne keeps hold of the Championship lead by a single point over Verschoor, 90 points to 89. Lindblad remains third on 79 points ahead of Jak Crawford and Luke Browning, both still on 73 points apiece.

Over in the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing lead the way on 138 points ahead of Hitech TGR in second on 102. MP Motorsport are third and move onto 101 points, as DAMS Lucas Oil and Rodin Motorsport complete the top five on 94 and 92 points respectively.

UP NEXT

The Spielberg Feature Race is set to get underway on Sunday morning at 10:00 local time, with Leonardo Fornaroli set to go from Pole Position for Invicta Racing.