2025 F2 Season Roundup: Round Two – Bahrain

Roundup of the second round of the 2025 F2 season in Bahrain which provided plenty of thrills in the desert. 

With just one race under everyone’s belt due to a cancelled Australian Feature Race, F2 arrived in Bahrain for its 199th and 200th races with the title picture still yet to emerge as a dramatic pair of races produced plenty of drama.

 

Practice

ART GP’s Ritomo Miyata and Victor Martins were first to hit the track but it was AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen who soon set the pace, as he posted 1m 48.954 in the 11th minute in a pretty quiet start to the weekend.

Times however soon began to tumble in the 23rd minute as Oliver Goethe, Alex Dunne and Pepe Marti soon went quickest,

MP Motorsport’s Goethe however left it until the penultimate minute to top the session with 1m 47.789 from his teammate, Richard Verschoor, as the Dutchman fell 0.222s shy in second ahead of Marti.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	1m 47.789
2	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.222
3	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.590
4	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.598
5	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.608
6	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.653
7	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.663
8	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.692
9	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	+ 0.756
10	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	+ 0.846
11	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.852
12	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	+ 1.015
13	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.047
14	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 1.165
15	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 1.290
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.359
17	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	+ 1.438
18	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 1.519
19	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1.626
20	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 1.735
21	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 1.891
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.677

 

Qualifying

Miyata and Martins were first to hit the track in Qualifying but it was PREMA’s Montoya who set the initial benchmark of 2m 02.683, but Fornaroli found himself quickest once everyone set a representative lap time as the reigning F3 champion posted 1m 44.642 in the eighth minute of the session.

Nobody bettered Fornaroli’s lap time in the second runs as Marti and Verschoor moved into second and third respectively ahead of the final runs, which initially saw Martins go fastest with 1m 44.163 with just two minutes left.

Fornaroli however responded in the final minute to claim his maiden F2 pole position with 1m 44.008, which left Martins second on the grid ahead of Browning and Dunne, whilst Fornaroli’s teammate – Stanek qualified fifth.

Verschoor, Meguetounif, Villagomez, Beganovic and Durksen rounded out the top ten, with Durksen on reverse pole for the sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	1m 44.008
2	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.155
3	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.284
4	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.316
5	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 0.547
6	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.603
7	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.701
8	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.738
9	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	+ 0.757
10	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.794
11	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.823
12	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.831
13	John Bennett	VAR	+ 0.858
14	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.929
15	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.955
16	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	+ 0.967
17	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 0.978
18	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.043
19	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	+ 1.144
20	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 1.255
21	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 1.952
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.048

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Durksen made a clean start to lead Beganovic and Villagomez but the safety car was quickly deployed after Cordeel spun Montoya out at Turn 8.

Racing resumed on Lap 5 as Bennett lost four positions to slip from ninth to 13th behind Stanek, Lindblad, Crawford and Mini.

Marti meanwhile had worked his way up to sixth but illegally passed Dunne off-track towards Turn 4 on Lap 6 and gave the position back two laps later, whilst Verschoor cleared Villagomez for third on Lap 10.

Up front, Durksen lost the lead to Beganovic on Lap 11 but the safety car was once again deployed on Lap 15 after Esterson stopped at Turn 11, which led six drivers to pit for the soft tyre.

Racing recommenced on Lap 19 with Durksen quick to repass Beganovic for the lead and the Swede was demoted to third on Lap 22 by Verschoor at Turn 7, but Marti was alert to jump both drivers then pass Durksen into Turn 1 on the final lap to snatch victory from 11th on the grid.

Post-race, Durksen was disqualified due to his diffuser failing to meet the minimum height requirement by 2mm, which promoted Verschoor up to second ahead of Beganovic, Goethe, Lindblad, Villagomez and Mini, whilst Fornaroli claimed the final point in eighth position.

Verschoor consequently inherited the championship lead on 13 points with a two-point lead over Marti as Durksen slipped to third.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Pepe Marti	Campos	23	46m 24.663
2	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	23	+ 0.922
3	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	23	+ 1.870
4	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	23	+ 1.984
5	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	23	+ 3.028
6	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	23	+ 3.134
7	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	23	+ 3.321
8	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	23	+ 3.972
9	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	23	+ 4.205
10	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	23	+ 4.498
11	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	23	+4.657
12	Jak Crawford	DAMS	23	+ 7.131
13	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	23	+ 7.956
14	Victor Martins	ART GP	23	+ 9.176
15	Roman Stanek	Invicta	23	+ 9.330
16	Kush Maini	DAMS	23	+ 9.439
17	John Bennett	VAR	23	+ 10.633
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	23	+ 12.442
19	Alex Dunne	Rodin	23	+ 22.270
RET	Max Esterson	Trident	14	Mechanical
RET	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	0	Collision
DSQ	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	23	Diffuser

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Fornaroli made a clean start but Martins got bogged down and fell to sixth as Dunne climbed to second from Villagomez, Stanek and Marti whilst Crawford and Meguetounif rounded out the top eight on the opening lap on soft tyres.

Browning had began the race in third but was the highest of 13 drivers to opt for the alternate hard tyre but slipped to tenth behind Durksen, until he passed the Paraguayan on Lap 5 for ninth to become the lead hard-tyre runner.

Up front, Dunne settled into second until Fornaroli’s front tyres hit the cliff which allowed the Irishman to pass him at the start of Lap 7 for the lead, whilst Marti and Martins had recovered to third and fourth ahead of Stanek who passed Villagomez for fifth.

VAR’s Bennett surprisingly triggered the pit window phase on Lap 11 despite having started on the alternate strategy as the soft and hard tyre strategies unexpectedly collided across the following eight laps, during which Martins jumped Fornaroli and Marti for net second position.

Once everyone made their stops come Lap 18, Dunne re-emerged in the lead but with Martins and Fornaroli hot on his heels, whilst Browning – now on soft tyres – cleared Marti into Turn 4 for fourth.

Browning just three laps later caught and passed Fornaroli for third and quickly got within DRS reach of Martins, and successfully cleared his fellow Williams Academy member on Lap 23 into the first corner for second which put him 5.594a off Dunne.

Dunne ultimately saw off any threat of a late charge from Browning to cruise to his maiden F2 victory from the Brit, Fornaroli cleared Martins into the first corner on Lap 28 to round off the podium despite a late charge from Marti who too passed the Frenchman.

In the drivers’ standings, Fornaroli now inherited the title lead on 26 points with an one-point lead over Dunne and Browning who moved up to second and third respectively, ahead of Marti who sat fourth as F2 prepares to head to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 18-20 April.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Alex Dunne	Rodin	32	59m 40.123
2	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	32	+ 8.244
3	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	32	+ 19.433
4	Pepe Marti	Campos	32	+ 19.867
5	Victor Martins	ART GP	32	+ 23.119
6	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	32	+ 23.573
7	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	32	+ 24.137
8	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	32	+ 26.725
9	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	32	+ 34.945
10	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	32	+ 37.860
11	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	32	+ 41.095
12	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	32	+ 43.201
13	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	32	+ 44.469
14	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	32	+ 46.571
15	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	32	+ 47.403
16	Jak Crawford	DAMS	32	+ 47.705
17	Roman Stanek	Invicta	32	+ 48.633
18	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	32	+ 52.956
19	Kush Maini	DAMS	32	+ 55.667
20	John Bennett	VAR	32	+ 55.911
21	Max Esterson	Trident	32	+ 58.288
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	32	+ 69.975