A two month break and several drivers change didn’t prevent Richard Verschoor from showing his worth on the F2 grid. The sprint race was more complicated for his opponents in the championship.

Lights went on for the thirteenth sprint race of the season. Joshua Dürksen immediately took the lead away from Richard Verschoor with a big reaction time from the Paraguayan. The newest driver of Campos Racing, Nikola Tsolov, also gained a position on Rafael Villagómez. Laurens Van Hoepen went wide into the gravel but managed to regain the track. During this time, both Invicta’s battled hard, with the leader struggling to pass his teammate. Jak Crawford seemed to have a good rhythm as he went from P15 to P11 in three laps. Dürksen made a small mistake, giving an opportunity to Richard Verschoor to come back behind him, and even overtake him.

Further in the back, a four-way battle happened between Shields, Wharton, Van Hoepen and Bennett. Luke Browning in P18 tried to overtake Miyata but the Japanese driver managed to keep the lead, even after a small mistake. However, the Brit overtook him a couple of corners later. In the meantime, Victor Martins made a mistake and went wide into the gravel, losing two positions. Gabriele Minì took the upper hand on the Frenchman and took P12. 

The beginning of the end

James Wharton took out his teammate in the gravel and created a safety car on lap 15. Seven drivers decided to pit to put the soft tyres on : Staněk, Goethe, Maini, Browning, Bennett and Shields. However, Kush Maini found himself in trouble as his car stopped on track. Richard Verschoor kept the lead at the restart and the rest of the field stayed disciplined. Gabriele Minì locked his tyres, giving the opportunity to Victor Martins to regain his position from earlier. Roman Staněk, first driver on soft, managed to grab some positions but made a small mistake while trying to overtake Mini. Arvid Lindblad was under investigation for an unsafe release.

Cian Shields went into the gravel and spun, stopping his car on track and bringing the second safety car. Verschoor kept the lead again on the restart but behind him, both Montoya and Dunne tried to overtake the driver in front of them. However, Villagómez kept his position, and while breaking late, almost overtook Tsolov. But he pushed the latter out of the track, preventing the Hungarian from getting the podium on his first race. Arvid Lindblad made a great operation and managed to overtake two drivers but while battling with Martins, he went wide and put an end to his hope for points. Richard Verschoor won the sprint with a statement of a race despite his small mistake at the start, Joshua Dürksen finished second and Rafael Villagómez third.