Durksen and Ramos star on Saturday

Joshua Dürksen won the start of the F2™ Sprint race and was not headed for the rest of the 23-lap journey.

The Paraguayan and the rest of the field were slowed by an early Virtual Safety Car and then two ‘proper’ Safety Car periods as the drivers struggled to understand the lightning-fast track.

But whenever the cars were up to speed again, Dürksen and his AIX Racing entry broke away from the DRS train, rebuilt his lead, and took the victory by 2.198s.

Leo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) took second place, ahead of Brit Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) and veteran Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport). 

There was plenty of action in the opening F3™ race of the weekend, with drivers frustrated by Virtual and full Safety Car periods punctuating the 20-lap journey. 

Santiago Ramos (Van Amersfoorth Racing) took the early lead and kept his head to become the first Mexican driver to take an F3™ win.

When the track was green, McLaren Junior driver Norway’s Martinius Stenshorne and Polish rookie Roman Bilinski (Rodin Motorsport) pressured him. 

Fourth-placed Thai Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Campos Racing) was the best of the rest, and it was a short but tough race for James Wharton.

The Melbourne driver triggered a melee with Brazilian Rafael Camara and Laurens van Hoepen, all three out of the race before they could get going.

The F2™ and F3™ stars of the future will be back on the track on Sunday for their Feature races. F3™ will start at 9:00 a.m. over 23 laps, and F2™ will start over 33 laps at 11:30 a.m.