2025 F2 Season Roundup: Round Four – Imola

Roundup of the fourth round of the 2025 F2 season in Imola, Italy, as the grid kicked off the European leg of the campaign. 

MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor came into this round as the championship leader but the first European round of the season threw up plenty of surprises from a red flag in Qualifying to an eventual change of title lead.

 

Practice

Oliver Goethe, Arvid Lindblad and home hero, Leonardo Fornaroli were first on track and Goethe set 1m 56.587 as the initial benchmark time, but Joshua Durksen soon lowered it to 1m 31.172 moments later.

Mini however further lowered the benchmark to 1m 30.416 and just 0.007 seconds quicker than Martins, who found himself fastest with 25 minutes left as he posted 1m 28.499, but times soon tumbled with Luke Browning, Kush Maini and Lindblad amongst those to hold the fastest lap time.

Dunne however topped the session with five minutes left after he produced 1m 27.907 to pip Lindblad by just 0.009s.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Alex Dunne	Rodin	1m 27.907
2	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	+ 0.009
3	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 0.115
4	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.257
5	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.391
6	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.554
7	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.582
8	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.619
9	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 0.676
10	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.734
11	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 0.764
12	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.798
13	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.881
14	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	+ 0.908
15	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	+ 0.935
16	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.939
17	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.941
18	John Bennett	VAR	+ 0.948
19	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 0.990
20	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.999
21	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	+ 1.230
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.838

 

Qualifying

Goethe and Verschoor were the first drivers to venture out on track with Goethe setting 1m 28.751 as the initial benchmark time in the sixth minute, but several drivers went quicker with Dunne top once everyone set a lap time after the Irishman posted 1m 27.827 just two minutes later to head Martins and Lindblad.

Martins however improved to 1m 27.424 on his next flier to go onto provisional pole from Fornaroli and Dunne ahead of the final runs.

Track position however proved decisive as Montoya lowered the benchmark by 0.003s, only for Beganovic to further find an extra 0.003s to snatch pole with 1m 27.418 in the 24th minute, before the session was prematurely ended with a red flag after Maini crashed through Tamburello just a minute later.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	1m 27.418
2	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.003
3	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.006
4	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	+ 0.284
5	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.388
6	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	+ 0.397
7	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.409
8	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.532
9	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.625
10	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	+ 0.690
11	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0..802
12	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 0.819
13	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 0.826
14	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.842
15	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.886
16	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 1.125
17	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.200
18	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 1.254
19	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 1.262
20	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 1.412
21	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1.458
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.116

 

Sprint Race

Miyata got wheelspin as he led away from pole but he quickly lost the lead to Crawford into Tamburello whilst Lindblad improved to third ahead of Browning, Martins and Dunne.

Meguetounif meanwhile stalled off the line which saw him finish last on the road at the checkered flag.

Up front, Crawford fought off Miyata until the ART GP driver began to lose tyre grip which allowed Lindblad to pass him on Lap 12 for second, with Browning, Martins and Dunne following through by the end of Lap 18.

Miyata eventually settled for sixth ahead of Fornaroli who fought off his Invicta teammate – Stanek for seventh as the pair rounded out the top eight.

Verschoor’s failure to score points meant that Fornaroli cut his title deficit to the Dutchman down to 11 points and moved up to second, after Marti failed to score which dropped the Spaniard to third in the standings with Browning and Dunne a further one and two points back respectively.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Jak Crawford	DAMS	25	38m 06.814
2	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	25	+ 1.101
3	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	25	+ 7.594
4	Victor Martins	ART GP	25	+ 8.700
5	Alex Dunne	Rodin	25	+ 8.936
6	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	25	+ 16.353
7	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	25	+ 16.980
8	Roman Stanek	Invicta	25	+ 17.349
9	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	25	+ 24.195
10	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	25	+ 26.506
11	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	25	+ 27.354
12	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	25	+ 27.517
13	Kush Maini	DAMS	25	+ 28.043
14	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	25	+ 28.930
15	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	25	+ 29.240
16	Pepe Marti	Campos	25	+ 33.214
17	Max Esterson	Trident	25	+ 35.832
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	25	+ 46.459
19	John Bennett	VAR	25	+ 46.766
20	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	25	+ 53.319
21	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	25	+ 75.704
22	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	22	Mechanical

 

Feature Race

Montoya stalled at the start of the formation lap to end any hopes of a first F2 victory which left Beganovic free to convert his pole into the lead, as Martins stalled at lights out which allowed Fornaroli to move up to second whilst Lindblad jumped from sixth to third ahead of Dunne.

Crawford meanwhile climbed from ninth to fifth ahead of Browning as the top six soon locked horns on the super-soft tyres for the lead, whilst Martins re-joined the race on the lead lap and held up the front six drivers until Beganovic, Fornaroli, Browning and Lindblad pitted at the end of Lap 6.

Beganovic rejoined in the net lead but Fornaroli slipped behind Dunne who jumped him and Lindblad for net second, whilst Browning jumped the net top-four plus Crawford when he and Crawford pitted a lap later to snatch the net lead himself.

Up front on the alternate hard-tyre strategy, Marti cleared Durksen on Lap 9 for the lead but the Paraguayan fought back on Lap 15 to take the lead, just before the safety car was deployed after Meguetounif had spun Villagomez out through Tamburello on Lap 14.

Mini, Bennett and Maini opted to gamble on an early pit stop under the safety car despite running the alternate strategy.

Racing resumed on Lap 18 and Dunne immediately cleared Esterson for sixth followed by Browning and Beganovic, whilst he then cleared Cordeel.

Browning had to wait until Lap 24 to clear Cordeel just as Dunne began a fast charge in which he cleared Miyata, Stanek, Marti and Dunne in the next three laps to assume the race lead ahead of those yet to pit for the super-soft tyres.

Dunne eventually cruised to his second F2 Feature Race victory from Browning and Beganovic who rounded out the podium ahead of; Lindblad, Fornaroli, Crawford and Goethe.

Montoya recovered from his pit-lane start to finish eighth ahead of Verschoor and Meguetounif.

Dunne’s victory lifted him to the title lead on 64 points with Browning up to second and just six points adrift, as F2 now head to Monaco from 22-25 May in the second of a triple-header.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Alex Dunne	Rodin	35	55m 50.708
2	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	35	+ 6.592
3	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	35	+ 7.599
4	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	35	+ 8.808
5	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	35	+ 12.125
6	Jak Crawford	DAMS	35	+ 13.178
7	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	35	+ 14.481
8	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	35	+ 15.499
9	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	35	+ 16.197
10	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	35	+ 26.193
11	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	35	+ 33.959
12	Victor Martins	ART GP	35	+ 37.167
13	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	35	+ 43.179
14	Pepe Marti	Campos	35	+ 43.955
15	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	35	+ 47.345
16	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	35	+ 49.311
17	Roman Stanek	Invicta	35	+ 53.347
18	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	35	+ 55.656
19	Max Esterson	Trident	35	+ 59.555
20	John Bennett	VAR	35	+ 64.312
21	Kush Maini	DAMS	35	+ 84.943
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	13	Collision