Duerksen goes back-to-back in Melbourne

Joshua Duerksen was in fine form to start the 2026 Formula 2 season, winning the opening race of the year in dominant fashion for Invicta Racing. 

The Paraguayan driver claimed his second consecutive victory in Melbourne Sprint Races after his success last year, battling from second on the grid to the top step of the podium. 

Campos Racing’s Noel León wound up in P2, with Alexander Dunne going from eighth to third for Rodin Motorsport. 

AS IT HAPPENED 

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak hooked up his launch at lights out and covered off Duerksen to hold onto the lead. That allowed Oliver Goethe the clean air to sweep around the outside of the Invicta driver to take second at Turn 1. 

Into Turn 9 and Duerksen struck back to retake second from Goethe, and Kush Maini was on the hunt to dive down the inside of the German driver at Turn 11 for fourth. On corner exit, the MP Motorsport driver suffered a spin, falling down the order as a result. 

Lap 2 and Duerksen swept into the lead with DRS assistance into Turn 9, while Rafael Câmara pulled a double overtake at Turn 11 to briefly take fourth, only for Maini and then Noel León to clear the Brazilian before the end of the lap in the final corners. 

Martinius Stenshorne relegated Nikola Tsolov further down the order at Turn 1, and Alexander Dunne followed through at T3, putting the Rodin Motorsport teammates sixth and seventh on Lap 3.  

However, Stenshorne’s move on the Campos driver was judged to have been completed off the circuit, and the Norwegian was later handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. 

León moved up to third on Lap 4 with a pass on Maini before Câmara made another dive at Turn 10, this time making a move stick on the ART Grand Prix driver for fourth place.  

Their battling gave Stenshorne momentum to take fifth from the Indian driver, which then became fourth with a pass on Câmara at Turn 3 on Lap 6. His teammate Dunne was next to overtake Maini, this time at the first corner. With DRS, Câmara then fought back through on Stenshorne into Turn 9. 

Tsolov had been running seventh, but the Bulgarian was demoted down to 12th on Lap 7 in a multi-car battle for the final points places. The Bulgarian’s day was made worse after contact with Colton Herta at Turn 4 on Lap 8 dropped him down to P19. 

Gabriele Minì had been on a charge from P21 on the grid and was up to seventh before hitting halfway in the Sprint. His progress continued on Lap 13 with a straightforward DRS pass on Dunne into Turn 11 to take sixth place. 

The Safety Car was called upon on Lap 15, with Mari Boya in the barriers on the exit of Turn 6. It allowed several drivers to gamble on a switch to the Supersoft Pirelli tyres, with Herta the highest-placed driver to have stopped in 15th position. 

Duerksen brought us back to racing conditions entering Lap 19, and the Paraguayan driver got a great restart to establish a comfortable lead over Inthraphuvasak across the line. 

With DRS re-enabled, León was able to get within range of P2 and took the place from the ART driver with a dive into Turn 11 on Lap 20. 

Stenshorne, Minì and Dunne were each able to pass Câmara in the first sector on Lap 21. But the Irishman made a great dive down the inside of the MP and Invicta drivers to take fifth place at Turn 4 in a three-wide pass. 

A wide moment at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap for Minì dropped the Italian to seventh, as Ritomo Miyata made a late-race charge into the points. 

Onto the final lap and Stenshorne took P3 on the road into Turn 1, while into T3, Dunne set up a switchback to secure fourth from the ART driver. 

Duerksen was unchallenged at the front though and claimed the first win of the 2026 F2 campaign ahead of León and Dunne, who was promoted on the podium following Stenshorne’s penalty that dropped him to P10. 

Inthraphuvasak was P4 ahead of Miyata, Mini and Laurens van Hoepen, with Roman Bilinski in the final points position in eighth. 

KEY QUOTE – Joshua Duerksen, Invicta Racing

“Very happy to win the first race of the season. Copy-Paste from last year, also starting second, so it was a good race. First time with the Softs, so we had to manage a little bit, but I think we got good data and good speed, so I’m super happy and super thankful with everyone. Super blessed to be here, see you tomorrow!” 

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS 

Joshua Duerksen leads the Championship after his Sprint victory on 10 points. Noel León is second on eight points ahead of Alexander Dunne in third place on six. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Ritomo Miyata round out the top five on five and four points respectively. 

Invicta Racing start their title defence with 10 points and lead their rivals once again. Campos Racing are second on eight points ahead of Rodin Motorsport in third on seven, followed by ART Grand Prix on five and Hitech on four points. 

UP NEXT 

The first FIA Formula 2 Feature Race of the season is set to get underway at 11:25 local time on Sunday.