RICHARD VERSCHOOR WINS HIS EIGHTH RACE IN F2
Richard Verschoor turned his reverse-grid pole into a Sprint Race win in Lusail. Joshua Duerksen finished second for AIX Racing, and Rafael Villagómez took third for Van Amersfoort Racing after making an overtake on the final lap.
Duerksen had the best start from the front row and took the lead from Verschoor. Nikola Tsolov moved into third on the way to Turn 1.
Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli fought with his Invicta Racing teammate Roman Stanek on the first lap. He tried another move on the second lap but couldn’t get past, and the two stayed close while battling for seventh.
By Lap 4, DRS was active. Verschoor closed the gap to Duerksen and retook the lead at Turn 1.
After that, Verschoor was clearly the fastest driver on track. He pulled away and built a two-second lead.
Further back, Victor Martins ran wide at Turn 4 on Lap 12, losing 11th place to Dino Beganovic. One lap later, Gabriele Minì also overtook him, dropping Martins to 13th.
On Lap 14, TRIDENT teammates Laurens van Hoepen and James Wharton collided. Wharton ended up stuck in the gravel at Turn 1, bringing out the Safety Car and removing Verschoor’s four-second advantage.
Stanek decided to pit for Soft tyres, the only driver in the top 10 to do so. Several others farther back also switched to Softs. However, DAMS Lucas Oil driver Kush Maini stopped on track before the race could restart, keeping the Safety Car out longer.
Racing resumed on Lap 17, and Verschoor held the lead ahead of Duerksen with seven laps remaining. By Lap 20, Verschoor’s lead was back up to 2.4 seconds, with Tsolov another second behind in third.
A spin for Cian Shields at the exit of Turn 5 brought out the Safety Car again, setting up a one-lap sprint to the finish.
Verschoor made a clean restart. Behind him, the battle for the podium became intense. Villagómez passed Tsolov for third, running wide but keeping the position. Tsolov also went wide and fell from third to 10th.
Verschoor stayed calm and took the win, followed by Duerksen and Villagómez after his late overtake. Sebastián Montoya finished fourth, followed by Alexander Dunne, Fornaroli, Martinius Stenshorne and Jak Crawford, who climbed from 15th to 8th.
Fornaroli remains the Championship leader with 191 points. Crawford moves up to 170. Verschoor is third with 162, just ahead of Luke Browning with 161. Dunne stays fifth with 134.
The next race is the Feature Race on Sunday, where Leonardo Fornaroli could secure the 2025 Drivers’ Championship. The race starts at 15:00 local time.
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