Australia – Sprint Race: Dürksen gets the better of Fornaroli, French retire

Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing) started the year as he ended the previous one: with a victory! There was no Main Race like in Abu Dhabi, however, but he still achieved success in the Australian Sprint Race this Saturday.

The Paraguayan, the revelation of the 2024 season, delivered a very solid performance. Second on the grid, Joshua Dürksen took advantage of a less than good start from poleman Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) to take the lead from the first corner... and never relinquish it. He wasn't even under much pressure from the Italian, who was under threat from Luke Browning (Hitech GP) behind him.

Joshua Dürksen mainly had to manage the race restarts after two safety car interventions, first due to the swerve of Max Esterson (Trident) at Turn 6 before that of his teammate, Frenchman Sami Meugetounif a few moments later at Turn 10. But the Paraguayan systematically showed himself intractable to shelter from Leonardo Fornaroli in his exhausts and thus go solo to victory. Luke Browning completed the podium ahead of Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) and Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing).

The second Frenchman in the race this year, Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix), didn't make it past the second lap. After dropping down the order at the start, the Parisian lost control of his car as he approached Turn 5 and hit the wall. With his car too badly damaged, he was forced to retire from the race.

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