Jak Crawford stormed to victory at the F2 Sprint Race at the 2025 Imola GP, securing his first win of the 2025 season for DAMS Lucas Oil. Starting from the front row, the American driver got a strong launch and immediately passed pole-sitter Ritomo Miyata into the opening corners. From there, Crawford maintained a clear lead and never relinquished control of the race.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad, who began the race from fifth, made an equally impressive start. He climbed to third early on and soon began challenging Miyata for second place. Although Miyata initially resisted, Lindblad completed the move on Lap 12 and gradually began reducing the gap to Crawford in the closing stages.
Action-packed opening laps
The start of the race saw several dramatic moments. Hitech GTR’s Dino Beganovic, who had been fastest in the controversial Qualifying session the previous day, started tenth due to the reverse-grid format. Further down the grid, Meguetounif stalled from P16 and was forced to continue through the pit lane, losing several positions.
Additionally, Mari Boya Marti and Gabriele Minì made contact at Turn One, an incident that stewards confirmed would be investigated post-race. Championship leader Richard Verschoor, who had qualified poorly after red flags interrupted qualifying, began the race in P19 but quickly climbed to P16 on the opening lap.
Miyata falls down the order
Although Miyata stayed within DRS range of Crawford by Lap 6, he eventually began to struggle. On Lap 11, Lindblad made his move, and Miyata was unable to defend for long. Following that, Luke Browning overtook the Japanese driver on Lap 14, and one lap later, Victor Martins followed suit. Miyata continued to lose ground, though he ultimately held on for sixth place.
A large DRS train developed behind Martins in P5, demonstrating the challenge of overtaking on Imola’s narrow layout. The lack of passing opportunities kept many drivers bunched up, adding tension to the midfield battles.
Midfield battles and late drama
Further down the order, Dino Beganovic attempted a move for the final points position but ran wide and dropped back to P10. Joshua Dürksen, who had climbed six positions during the race, lost out to Roman Staněk for eighth place on Lap 17.
Both Verschoor and Martí, first and second in the championship standings respectively, continued to struggle. By Lap 18, they were running in 15th and 16th. Verschoor’s situation worsened when he retired from the race with a suspected technical issue.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Fornaroli held a solid seventh position throughout most of the race but eventually came under pressure from his Invicta Racing teammate in the closing laps.
Final push for the podium
In the final phase of the race, Lindblad began closing the gap to Crawford. Despite putting in faster lap times, the Campos Racing driver could not benefit from DRS on the penultimate lap and ultimately settled for second place.
The fight for the final podium spot was especially fierce. Luke Browning, running third, began to lose pace by Lap 22. Martins and Dunne pressed forward, with Dunne just two tenths behind Martins by the end. However, Browning managed to defend effectively and finished third, with Martins and Dunne closely behind in fourth and fifth.
Final classification of the 2025 Imola F2 Round Sprint Race
Crawford claimed victory, followed by Lindblad and Browning. Martins and Dunne completed the top five. Miyata, Fornaroli, Staněk, Montoya, and Goethe rounded out the points-paying positions. Notably, championship leader Verschoor did not finish the race.
- Jak Crawford
- Arvid Lindblad
- Luke Browning
- Victor Martins
- Alexander Dunne
- Ritomo Miyata
- Leonardo Fornaroli
- Roman Staněk
- Sebastián Montoya
- Oliver Goethe
- Joshua Dürksen
- Dino Beganovic
- Kush Maini
- Pepe Martí
- Rafael Villagómez
- Gabriele Minì
- Max Esterson
- Cian Shields
- Luke Bennett
- Amaury Cordeel
- Sami Meguetounif
DNF: Richard Verschoor
