Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Joshua Duerksen took advantage of an early pit stop to win the Formula 2 feature race at Monza despite late pressure from team-mate Rafael Camara.
Duerksen is only the fifth driver in the current iteration of F2 to have won both the feature and reverse-grid sprint races at the same event, joining the list of drivers with eight wins in the category since its rebirth in 2017.
For Mercedes-AMG development driver it wrapped up a “perfect weekend. Really surreal. Just incredible. I feel like I am living a dream right now. Monza has always been very special to me. I have always felt very good here.”
With the Invicta duo having locked out the front row, it was Duerksen who gained the advantage into the first chicane, as Camara cut across the chicane as he tried to defend his position, slotting back in behind Duerksen.
The pair traded places over the opening laps, with Camara just in front as Duerksen peeled off into the pits at the earliest opportunity, explaining afterwards that “I felt that the supersofts were starting to drop and …. I know that the softs hold on quite well.”
Having pitted to change his supersofts for soft tyres two laps later than Duerksen, Camara dropped over two seconds back from the Paraguayan as he got his tyres up to temperature while simultaneously having to fend off Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne.
Into the final 10 laps, Camara began to bring down the gap to his team-mate, although he now had Campos Racing’s Noel Leon to deal with.
The safety car had been deployed to recover Colton Herta’s car from the Parabolica gravel, rounding off a miserable weekend for the American. AIX Racing’s Emmo Fittipaldi Jr pitted from the lead under the safety car, promoting the Invicta pair back to the on-track race lead.
At the restart, Dunne was immediately challenging Camara for second, locking up and taking to the escape road at the second chicane, which allowed Leon to slip past.
Behind the leaders, Trident’s John Bennett was running in fifth, while Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata moved ahead of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak into Turn 1 for sixth. Championship leader, Nikola Tsolov was embroiled in a battle with Rodin’s Martinius Stenshorne, the pair making contact at the Roggia chicane, depriving the Norwegian of a front-wing endplate.
Although Duerksen was “doing qualifying laps every single lap,” Camara was now right on his tail, using the DRS to have a look into the Parabolica and again into the first chicane. However, Duerksen made no mistake, holding on to win by 0.424s.
Camara, while mindful of the championship points position, graciously congratulated his team-mate. “The battle with Josh in the opening laps was great fun – hard racing, but always fair…I was really trying to get closer and at least attempt a move [but] I just couldn’t find a way past on the last lap. Second is still a great result in the championship fight, and we head to Madrid with real momentum.””
Leon took the final podium position, while Bennett and Miyata demoted Dunne in the closing stages. Tsolov had to make do with seventh, cutting his lead to 11 points ahead of Madrid.
The biggest worry for a delighted Duerksen came after the chequered flag, as his engine caught fire on the run through the Curva Grande, prompting a rapid stop and exit from the cockpit. One lap earlier and his hard work would have been for nought…