May 02, 2025

 

Round 5 of Formula Sprint 2 came to Europe for the first time this season, and whilst race 1 was a bit of a procession, race 2 was full of drama and incidents.
Lopes Lays Down the Marker
Junio Lopes returned to the top with a brilliant pole lap of 1:28.859, narrowly edging Potentia's Sandeep Singh by 0.081s. Michael Falkenhain (Mapes-VO) and Omari Watson (Orbit) were hot on their heels, all within a quarter of a second of the top spot. There was a much tighter spread throughout the field than at Jeddah.

Race 1: Singh Takes Victory with Composed Drive
Despite starting second, Sandeep Singh took control from the outset and didn't look back, claiming his second win of the season. He weathered pressure from polesitter Lopes, who finished 1.3 seconds behind, after Lopes showed his higher-downforce setup, whilst quick over one lap, was no match for Singh's advantage in the straights. Omari Watson rounded out the podium after a composed drive, ahead of Damir Kuratko (Freccia Nera) and Domenico Scarpelli (Potentia).

Further back, James Knox and Magnus Okkenhaug had solid performances to finish sixth and seventh respectively, while one of the pre-race favourites Falkenhain slipped to eighth after a difficult race.

The biggest movers in the midfield included Charlotte Mennink (Venus), who climbed an impressive 13 places to P19, and Florian Haase, who rose seven spots to finish P18. However, it was a dismal showing for Team VMS-SunEdits, with both Chinaglia and van der Smissen retiring early. Thijs Jongstra and Samuil Slavev also failed to make it past the first lap.

It was a little bit of a procession, but having the top 15 reversed for race 2 was sure to produce some action.

Race 2: Skinner Wins as Mayhem Strikes Turn 1
Race 2 began in spectacularly chaotic fashion. A huge lap-one pileup at Turn 1 took out several front-runners, including Omari Watson and Kert Rohtjarv, and left others nursing damage or struggling to avoid the carnage. Watson was one of the most prominent victims; three-wide into Turn 1 left him with contact that dropped him down the field. Rohtjarv was also caught up and retired early after more contact later in the lap. Both Potentias were involved, with Singh facing backwards and Scarpelli losing his front wing.The contact itself appeared to be as a result of Tuomaala getting sideways in turn 3, before making contact with the side of Rohtjarv.

Amid the melee, Ben Skinner emerged unscathed and charged through from P4 on the grid to take his second win of the season for Team RNG. Kristers Svilo (ST Racing) held strong in second, while Christian Glamseter (GPVWC Academy) rounded out the podium after starting from reverse-grid pole.

Junio Lopes impressed again, climbing 10 places to finish fourth, ahead of Joonas Kaurala and James Knox. At one point, it appeared he might be able to close in on the leaders for a race win, but a back and forth with those around him (especially Knox) meant that it was not to be.

Jorn Dicks and Boby Vakuinof also capitalised, gaining a combined 22 positions between them. Perhaps the most eye-catching drive was from Thijs Jongstra, who rose from dead last (P31) to an impressive P11.

Meanwhile, Damir Kuratko saw his fortunes reversed as he became one of several DNFs, alongside the likes of Scarpelli, Falkenhain, and Watson, all victims of the first-lap chaos or its aftermath.

We move on to the US next.