F2 News: American Jak Crawford wins Imola Sprint race

American Jak Crawford (pictured) drove a measured race from second on the grid to win his first F2 race of the 2025 season.

The DAMS Lucas Oil driver surged into the lead from lights out and didn’t look back, finishing ahead of Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad and Hitech TGR driver Luke Browning.

AS IT HAPPENED

Pole sitter Ritomo Miyata lost the lead to Crawford at lights out on the run to Turn 2. Lindblad surged up to P3 from fifth on the grid ahead of Browning and Victor Martins in the top five, after the ART Grand Prix driver moved up from eighth.

By Lap 4, Crawford had managed to escape out of DRS range to Miyata behind, while despite having DRS to the car ahead, Lindblad couldn’t close in on the ART in front of him.

Browning managed to break away from Martins, leaving Miyata to fend off the British duo behind him in the fight for second, with Crawford building his lead back up to beyond a second by Lap 10.

Lindblad attempted to dive to the inside of Turn 2 on Lap 11, but Miyata defended well to retain second position.

One lap later and the Red Bull Junior Team driver made the pass stick, clearing the ART before corner entry at Tamburello.

Lap 13 and Miyata had to defend from Browning to keep hold of third into the favoured passing area at Turn 2.

Hitech TGR’s Dino Beganovic looked to be lining up a move on Joshua Duerksen for the final points-paying position, but a wide moment out of Variante Alta allowed Roman Stanek to go through for P9.

Browning finally cleared Miyata on Lap 14 into the second corner, with the Japanese driver losing the benefit of DRS. One lap later and it was Martins through on teammate Miyata into Turn 2 for fourth.

Stanek’s charge continued as he managed to commit to the outside of Duerksen at the second corner to take P8 from the AIX Racing driver.

Alexander Dunne had told the team he was playing the long game earlier in the race, and he moved into the top five with a pass on Miyata along the main straight.

Leonardo Fornaroli had to defend seventh from Invicta Racing teammate Stanek at Turn 2 as the Czech driver applied the pressure with six laps to go.

Lap 22 of 25 and Dunne managed to claw his way to within a second of Martins ahead, who in turn was catching Browning in the fight for the final podium position.

The trio were covered by 1.5s entering the penultimate lap, while in front of them, Lindblad had closed in on the race leader and was on the cusp of DRS to the DAMS driver.

Unfortunately for the Campos rookie, they entered the final lap separated by 1.2s and the American driver held on for his first win of the 2025 season.

Lindblad made it two Sprint Race podiums in a row in P2, while Browning held off Martins and Dunne to take the final spot on the podium.

Miyata wound up sixth for ART ahead of Fornaroli and Stanek, the Invicta duo rounding out the points in seventh and eighth places.

KEY QUOTE – Jak Crawford, DAMS Lucas Oil

“It was quite an easy race I’d say out front. I had a great start and was able to take the lead. From then on it was just about managing the gap, making sure nobody got in my DRS and that’s kind of what I did and just managed the tires. It was a great race, great points to take away and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Richard Verschoor retains the lead of the Championship on 53 points, but Leonardo Fornaroli moves onto 42 and up to second place, one point ahead of Josep María Martí, who drops to third. Luke Browning is fourth just one point behind the Spaniard while Alexander Dunne is now fifth on 39.

In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing continue to lead the field on 73 points ahead of MP Motorsport on 59. Hitech TGR are third on 52, just one point clear of Invicta Racing in fourth. Rodin Motorsport are fifth on 39.

F2 Sprint Race Results – 25 Laps

Fastest lap: Browning, 1m30.244s