Joshua Dürksen Secures Monza Feature Race Victory
Joshua Dürksen turned a strong weekend into a statement one at Monza, backing up his Sprint Race victory with a hard-fought win in the Formula 2 Feature Race at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Invicta Racing driver survived an early scrap with teammate Rafael Camara, a mid-race Safety Car, and late pressure to take the flag first and complete a dominant double at the Temple of Speed. Camara followed him home in second, with Noel Leon securing the final step on the podium.
Camara’s Start Unravels, Dürksen Pounces
From pole, Ferrari junior Camara looked set to dictate the afternoon. Instead, his race almost came undone in the opening seconds.
He bogged down off the line, then compounded the error with a lock-up into Turn 1. Forced to cut the chicane, Camara had no choice but to hand the lead to Dürksen, who had launched cleanly and slipped into control for Invicta.
That should have settled things. It didn’t.
By Lap 4, the teammates were locked in a fierce, measured duel. Lap after lap, they traded the lead into Turn 1, testing each other’s nerve and braking points at nearly 340 km/h. It was aggressive, but disciplined – the kind of intra-team fight that can easily go wrong at Monza’s narrow first chicane.
Dürksen blinked first on strategy, diving into the pits at the end of Lap 6. Camara stayed out two more laps before making his stop on Lap 8, but the undercut did its job.
When the Brazilian rejoined, he slotted back onto the circuit just behind Dürksen, with Dunne looming in his mirrors and probing for a mistake.
Safety Car Shakes the Pack
The race settled briefly into a rhythm, Dürksen holding track position while Camara regrouped. Then it snapped back to life.
On Lap 12, Colton Herta slid off into the gravel at Parabolica, his car beached and going no further. The Safety Car came out, erasing Dürksen’s carefully built advantage and bunching the field for a tense restart.
When the race went green again, Dürksen kept his head. He nailed the restart, defending the inside line and preserving his lead into Turn 1. Camara, by contrast, came under real pressure from Dunne, who attacked hard but overstepped the limit.
Pushing to stay in the fight, Dunne cut the Roggia chicane and had to give way, losing out to Noel Leon. The Mexican seized the opening and moved up, eventually locking in the final podium place as the laps ticked away.
Title Picture Tightens
While Dürksen controlled the front, the bigger picture shifted behind him.
Rafael Camara’s second place proved crucial in the drivers’ standings. He trimmed the gap to championship leader Nikola Tsolov, after the Red Bull junior could manage only seventh on the day. It wasn’t a disastrous result for Tsolov, but it was a missed opportunity on a weekend where others maximized their haul.
For Gabriele Mini, his home race turned sour. The MP Motorsport driver left Monza empty-handed, failing to score in front of the Italian crowd on a circuit where he had hoped to ignite his campaign.
Final-Lap Pressure, Same Result
At the front, the closing stages became a test of nerve.
Camara regrouped after the restart and began to reel Dürksen back in, lap by lap. The Ferrari-backed driver edged closer, probing the braking zones, looking for a weakness that never really came.
As they crossed the line to start the final lap, the gap had shrunk. Camara was close enough to threaten, close enough to force Dürksen to drive with absolute precision.
But that was all.
Dürksen didn’t flinch. He hit every apex, defended where he needed to, and powered out of Parabolica one last time to secure the Feature Race win and complete a flawless Monza double.
Camara followed him home, frustrated but very much alive in the title hunt. Leon, composed and opportunistic, completed the podium after capitalizing when it mattered most.
Monza often exposes the weak and flatters the brave. This weekend, it did something else: it underlined that Joshua Dürksen is no longer just a race winner in F2. He’s a serious problem for anyone with eyes on the championship.
