Roundup of a lively sixth round of the 2025 F2 season in Spain as the title fight threw up plenty of twists.
Hitech GP’s Luke Browning came into the weekend as championship leader but a lively weekend of twists saw him lose the title lead in a battle which saw the title race become more open than previously.
Practice
A quiet start to the weekend saw everyone pit after an installation lap until MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor led them back out in the 16th minute, and he then laid 1m 28.044 as a benchmark in the 21st minute.
Dunne however displaced him a minute later with 1m 27.425 which put the Irishman top of the timesheets from Mini at the half-way mark.
Lindblad however waited until the 31st minute before he pounced to snatch the fastest lap with 1m 27.147 and topped the session from Dunne.
Post-session, Dunne was handed a three-place grid penalty for running into the back of ART GP’s Victor Martins as the pair entered the pits, which meant that he had to serve a 13-place grid penalty in the Sprint after he had been given a ten-place drop following their opening lap incident in the Monaco Feature Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 1m 27.147 |
| 2 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | + 0.278 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.650 |
| 4 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.897 |
| 5 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 0.933 |
| 6 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 0.964 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.973 |
| 8 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 1.125 |
| 9 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 1.183 |
| 10 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.197 |
| 11 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.206 |
| 12 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.233 |
| 13 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 1.423 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.447 |
| 15 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 1.611 |
| 16 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 1.655 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 1.770 |
| 18 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.978 |
| 19 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 2.035 |
| 20 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 2.337 |
| 21 | John Bennett | VAR | + 2.424 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 2.719 |
Qualifying
Esterson was the first driver to hit the track and set 1m 49.479 as the unrepresentative benchmark time, which was soon lowered to 1m 26.388 on his first proper flier.
Fornaroli however found more pace and with 1m 25.755 found himself top of the timesheet from Dunne and Stanek after the opening runs.
Lindblad though continued to show his pace out of sync as he set 1m 25.492 on his second flier to go onto provisional pole from Fornaroli, whilst Miyata slotted into third.
Hot track conditions eventually saw some find more improvements in their final runs than others as Lindblad became the youngest pole-sitter in F2 history at 17 years, nine months and 22 days, after he set 1m 25.180 to top Qualifying.
Montoya unexpectedly improved to second ahead of Maini and Stanek, whilst Dunne qualified fifth but his three-place penalty applied to both races, which dropped him to eighth for the feature race and 19th for the sprint once factored in reverse grid and his ten-place penalty from Monaco.
Verschoor, Crawford and Browning qualified sixth, seventh and eighth but were elevated a position for the feature race following Dunne’s penalty, whilst Durksen qualified ninth ahead of Fornaroli who claimed reverse pole for the sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 1m 25.180 |
| 2 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 0.245 |
| 3 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 0.330 |
| 4 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 0.339 |
| 5 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | + 0.432 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.478 |
| 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.548 |
| 8 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.562 |
| 9 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.570 |
| 10 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.575 |
| 11 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.590 |
| 12 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 0.605 |
| 13 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 0.630 |
| 14 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 0.636 |
| 15 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.680 |
| 16 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 0.702 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 0.802 |
| 18 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 1.020 |
| 19 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.080 |
| 20 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 1.146 |
| 21 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.181 |
| 22 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.716 |
Sprint Race
A lively start saw Fornaroli attempt to cover off Durksen which allowed Browning to blast down the middle to take the lead ahead of Crawford who followed him through into second.
Crawford soon caught and passed Browning on the inside of Turn 5 for the lead as the order soon settled with the top 17 covered by 10 seconds in a mass DRS train come Lap 9, although Durksen suffered a mechanical issue on Lap 13 which dropped him two laps down and he eventually retired on Lap 23.
Lindblad meanwhile got spun by Verschoor at Turn 1 a lap later but was able to recover and re-join the race.
The race’s complexity changed on Lap 18 as PREMA teammates, Mini and Montoya collided with Mini left stranded in the run-off area at Turn 1, which led the safety car to be deployed and nine drivers to pit for the soft tyres headed by Verschoor and Dunne.
Racing recommenced on Lap 21 and Verschoor followed by Dunne rapidly carved their way to the front by the end of Lap 24, with the Dutchman ultimately clinging on for his second win of the season by just 0.380s.
Villagomez got his first F2 podium in third ahead of Crawford, Martins, Browning, Fornaroli and Lindblad.
Dunne’s second-placed finish meant that he retook the championship lead from Browning by three points, whilst Verschoor’s victory propelled him back up to third and seven points off Dunne.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 26 | 42m 00.288 |
| 2 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 26 | + 0.380 |
| 3 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 26 | + 8.334 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 26 | + 11.473 |
| 5 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 26 | + 12.504 |
| 6 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 26 | + 13.365 |
| 7 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 26 | + 14.071 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 26 | + 14.325 |
| 9 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 26 | + 16.494 |
| 10 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 26 | + 16.610 |
| 11 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 26 | + 16.619 |
| 12 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 26 | + 19.516 |
| 13 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 26 | + 20.245 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 26 | + 21.358 |
| 15 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 26 | + 23.006 |
| 16 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 26 | + 23.818 |
| 17 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 26 | + 24.161 |
| 18 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 26 | + 24.763 |
| 19 | Max Esterson | Trident | 25 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 22 | Mechanical |
| RET | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 16 | Collision |
| RET | John Bennett | VAR | 1 | Mechanical |
Feature Race
Lindblad made a clean start to head Montoya whilst Verschoor jumped from fifth to third ahead of Stanek and Browning, whilst Crawford slipped to eighth ahead of Dunne as the lead alternate strategy runners on the hard tyres.
Durksen was the first prime runner to pit on Lap 7 from seventh which triggered the pit stop phase with Lindblad was the last frontrunner to pit on Lap 13, which saw him rejoin in the net lead from Montoya, Verschoor and Stanek.
Miyata however hung it out until the end of Lap 16 despite having no chance of victory whilst across on the alternate strategy, Crawford built a three-second gap to Dunne as he unexpectedly pitted early for soft tyres on Lap 23,
Dunne followed suit two laps later which allowed Lindblad into the lead, whilst Crawford had recovered positions to eighth on that lap despite hitting the rear of Durksen’s AIX which ultimately dropped the Paraguayan out of the points with damage.
Browning’s race meanwhile unravelled on the hard tyre after he got passed by Durksen on Lap 11 as the Paraguayan cut Turn 2, before he then collided with Miyata into Turn 4 on Lap 22 which put the Japanese driver into the gravel although both continued as Browning pitted for a new front wing.
Up front, Lindblad cruised to his second F2 victory and first feature race win after the safety car came out on Lap 35 following a spin for Fornaroli, whose points-scoring run came to an end.
Montoya took second from Verschoor, whilst Crawford, Dunne, Marti, Maini, Martins, Miyata and Mini rounded out the top ten.
F2 now takes a four-week break before heading to Austria on weekend of 27-29 June, with Dunne still in the title lead on 87 points although his title lead was cut to three points by Verschoor, whilst Lindblad and Crawford moved up to third and fourth ahead of Browning as 14 points covered the top five.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 37 | 58m 49.191 |
| 2 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 37 | + 0.301 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 37 | + 0.602 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 37 | + 0.927 |
| 5 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 37 | + 1.155 |
| 6 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 37 | + 1.573 |
| 7 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 37 | + 2.344 |
| 8 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 37 | + 2.605 |
| 9 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 37 | + 2.884 |
| 10 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 37 | + 2.988 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 37 | + 3.629 |
| 12 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 37 | + 5.136 |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 37 | + 5.470 |
| 14 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 37 | + 11.754 |
| 15 | Max Esterson | Trident | 37 | + 11.969 |
| 16 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 37 | + 13.828 |
| 17 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 37 | + 14.762 |
| 18 | John Bennett | VAR | 37 | + 15.212 |
| 19 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 37 | + 17.618 |
| 20 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 37 | + 48.779 |
| RET | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 33 | Spin |
| RET | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 24 | Engine |
Leave a Reply