With the 2024 Formula 2 season heading into its final 3 race weekends on the calendar, Round 12 in Baku was always set to be a show-stopper with both Championships being so closely contested.

Baku would be set to feature some new faces on the grid, with these drivers racing at a track they have not previously visited, whilst lapping the circuit in a car none had previously driven competitively.

With Oliver Bearman set to drive for Haas F1 Team for the weekend, Gabriele Mini got the call up to compete for PREMA Racing, whilst Christian Mansell would be set to drive the #23 Trident car, replacing Roman Stanek for the rest of the season.

Also announced to be joining the grid for the final three rounds of the 2024 Season was Luke Browning, who was set to join ART Grand Prix in place of Zak O’Sullivan.

Qualifying:

Richard Verschoor claimed pole position on Saturday after a dramatic Qualifying session around the Baku City Circuit, with the Trident driver topping the timing sheets across both Practice and Qualifying, before a final flying lap of 1:54.857, saw him de-seat Andrea Kimi Antonelli from the top spot by a mere 0.017s.

Verschoor set the pace early on in Qualifying with an opening lap time of 1:56.023s, leading from ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins by 0.213s, with PREMA Racing’s Antonelli in third place. 

With track conditions improving as the session progressed, the drivers were able to push on a second lap, with Verschoor once again going quickest and improving his own top time to log a 1:55.655s.

Martins also completed his second stint on the Supersoft tyres, with the French driver now only 0.079s behind, with Antonelli again rounding out the top three, over four-tenths off of the provisional pole position.

With all the drivers having returned to the pitlane, they rejoined the track with under 10 minutes to go, before their third stints were interrupted as a result of the Red Flags being waved.

Replays showed the Red Flags were being shown around the track as a result of Campos Racing, with Isack Hadjar going straight on into the barrier at Turn 1, before being joined by his teammate Josep Maria Marti only moments later in a bizarre incidents that saw both cars seemingly locking-up under braking.

Both drivers were okay and managed to get out of the cars by themselves, with the green flags being waved after the cars were cleared with just over four minutes left in the session.

This meant that drivers had a one-lap shootout to improve on their times, with Verschoor once again going quickest of the rest to claim pole position for Sunday’s Feature Race with a time of 1:54.857, ahead of Antonelli in second by a mere 0.017s.

Martins finished in third, over two-tenths off of pole with Zane Maloney joining him on the second row after claiming fourth for Rodin Motorsport. The Invicta Racing duo of Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto followed behind in fifth and sixth place, with Joshua Duerksen taking seventh for AIX Racing.

PREMA debutante Gabriele Mini took eighth place in his maiden Formula 2 Qualifying, with Jak Crawford in P9 for DAMS Lucas Oil. Trident rookie Christian Mansell rounded out the top-10, meaning he would be set to start the Sprint Race on the Saturday on reverse grid pole position.

Penalties Post-Qualifying:

Isack Hadjar of Campos Racing was penalised following the conclusion of the Formula 2 Qualifying session after locking-up going into Turn 1 and hitting the barriers, resulting in the Red Flags being flown.

The Frenchman as a result had his fastest lap time deleted for being deemed the sole cause of the Red Flag, and after originally ending the Qualifying session in P15, he was demoted down to P20.

Sprint Race:

Joshua Duerksen claimed his maiden Formula 2 victory on Saturday during the Baku Sprint Race, battling through a dramatic race to win by over three seconds from DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford and PREMA Racing’s debutant Gabriele Mini.

Reverse grid pole-sitter Christian Mansell got a strong launch off of the line to keep the lead early on in the race, with Mini and Duerksen moving up a place respectively after front row starter Crawford was slow off the line to drop down into fourth by Turn 1.

At the beginning of Lap 2, Zane Maloney was looking to make a move on Kush Maini for fifth place, however, a moment on the exit of Turn 2 in which he seemed to struggle to get any power allowed Martins to make a move of his own to take P6.

Whilst working hard to get out of DRS range of Mini behind, Mansell locked up heading into Turn 15 on Lap 6, allowing the PREMA rookie to close the distance. The Italian quickly utilised the DRS to his advantage to make a move down the inside at Turn 1 to take the lead of the race.

The Australian rookie tried to retaliate, however a lack of pace meant by the end of Lap 7 he had lost out on another place to Duerksen, leaving him in third place.

A little further down the order, Martins tried to make a move around the outside of Maini for P5, however, lost the momentum of the track on the exit of Turn 1, allowing Maloney to retake sixth place. The ART Grand Prix driver didn’t hold back though, taking P6 once again after going down the inside at Turn 3 on Lap 11.

The lead of the race changed hands once again on Lap 13, with Duerksen utilising his strong straight-line speed to pass Mini at Turn 1. Only moments later, Martins passed Maini for P5, with Maloney dropping further down the order into seventh after losing a place to Gabriel Bortoleto, seeming to have been suffering from damage after colliding earlier on in the race with the barriers at Turn 5.

Onto Lap 14, Duerksen had managed to pull away and give himself a comfortable gap of over three and a half seconds from Mini in second. The Safety Car was called upon shortly after to neutralise the racing as a result of Ritomo Miyata making contact with the barrier at Turn 3.

The Rodin Motorsport driver had attempted to dive down the inside of Dennis Hauger for P12, however, with little room left for braking, went straight on and into the wall.

Racing resumed on Lap 18, with Duerksen getting a strong restart to keep ahold of the lead, with Mini struggling for grip and running wide to allow Crawford to take P2.

Further drama came from behind as Mansell and Bortoleto made contact at Turn 3, with the Invicta driver colliding with the barrier, although he was able to continue on to take P5. Trident’s Mansell lost further places to Paul Aron and Antonelli, dropping him down to P8.

Out at the front of the race, Duerksen had once again rebuilt his lead up to over a second and half by the start of the penultimate lap, with Martins closing in on Mini in the battle for the final spot on the podium.

With the chequered flag flying at the conclusion of the Sprint Race, Duerksen was now over three seconds clear at the front of the grid, before crossing the line to take his maiden Formula 2 victory. Crawford took second, with Mini managing to hold off Martins and cross the line to take his maiden F2 podium on his debut race. Bortoleto claimed fifth place ahead of Aron, whilst Anotnelli claimed seventh ahead of debutant Mansell.

Post-Race Penalties:

Oliver Goethe was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Amaury Cordeel during the Sprint Race. He was also handed one penalty point on his licence, his first of the season.

Feature Race:

Richard Verschoor converted his Pole Position into a Feature Race win in Baku, ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins – after previously losing out the Frenchman before the mandatory pit stops. Andrea Kimi Antonelli took third place for PREMA Racing, whilst Gabriel Bortoleto took over the lead of the Drivers’ Championship after finishing just outside of the podium.

Verschoor had a good launch off the line from pole to retain the lead going into Turn 1, however further back down the grid contact brought out an immediate Red Flag. Josep Maria Marti, Oliver Goethe and Kush Maini were all involved in the incident after Maini’s Invicta Racing car failing to pull away when the lights went out. Whilst other drivers were able to avoid the stationary car, Goethe and Marti remained unsighted and had nowhere to go to avoid the car.

All drivers were able to get out of their cars quickly and seemed okay initially, although Marti headed to the medical centre for a check-up after his car flipped upside down.

After an extensive clear up of the cars and debris, racing resumed with a rolling start, however the Feature race would now be condensed and run to a timed-finish as opposed to the original full 29-lap distance.

Verschoor once again got a good launch from the restart to keep the lead ahead of Antonelli and Martins in the top three and by the beginning of the second lap of racing was around 0.7s clear of the chasing pair. Martins, however, was in the perfect position to be able to utilise the slipstream from Antonelli’s car to take second going into Turn 1.

With 21 minutes to go on the clock, the ART race was now close enough to the rear of the race leader, and with the help of the DRS, made a move down the inside going into Turn 1 to cleanly take the lead of the race.

Trident rookie Christian Mansell had moved himself up into sixth on the same lap after using the DRS to make a pass on the Sprint Race winner Joshua Duerksen going into Turn 3.

AIX Racing’s Duerksen was the first to come in for the mandatory pit stop with 19 minutes left to run, being joined by Jak Crawford and Luke Browning.

Martins responded on the next lap to pit from the race lead alongside Verschoor and Antonelli, whilst Zane Maloney and Bortoleto opted to stay out on track from the top five. Martins had a slower stop than he would have wished, and found himself third in the queue to exit the pitlane, with the top three reverting to how they started when they rejoined the track.

Maloney and Bortoleto took their mandatory stop on the following lap, with both drivers switching to the Soft Compound tyres before rejoining the track in the same order. Maloney, however, was able to complete the undercut and emerged back onto track in front of Antonelli.

More drama came on the run up to Turn 3, after contact between Maloney and Antonelli due to the Rodin Motorsport locking-up and going into the runoff area. Martins took advantage of the incident to make a move on the PREMA of Antonelli and move up to fifth on the road.

With 12 minutes left of the Feature Race, the gap between race leader Verschoor and a fast paced Martins stood at 2.3s, before making incremental gains on the following laps to reduce the gap down to 1.7s and then a closer 1.3s.

Into the final five minutes of the race and Martins was now on the cusp of DRS range, only 1.1s down but unable to break into the window. 

The question of whether the Frenchman would be able to get within DRS range before the conclusion of the race would be left unanswered as the Safety Car was deployed to neutralise the race with only two minutes remaining, as a result of Gabriele Mini hitting the wall at Turn 15.

The neutralisation of the Feature Race meant Richard Verschoor claimed his maident race victory of the 2024 season, with Martins and Antoelli rounding out the podium in second and third place respectively.

Bortoleto took P4 and claimed the fastest lap point as well, to give the Invicta driver the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, whilst Sprint Race winner Duerksen took P5 for AIX. Paul Aron finished in sixth for Hitech Pulse-Eight with Browning, Crawford, Hauger and Mansell rounding out the points-paying positions.

Post-Race Penalties:

Kush Maini was disqualified from the Feature Race after it was found that he failed to engage the start set-up procedure at the beginning of the race.

Maini received a further 10-second time penalty which would be converted into a five-place grid drop for the next race, for causing a collision at the start of the Feature Race. He received two penalty points on his licence, totalling 4 points for the 2024 season.