Colton Herta stumbles in debut Formula 2 sprint race

The 26-year-old, who ventured into the series following years of success in IndyCar, qualified 14th for the session but finished in a lowly 16th, failing to make any significant progress through the sprint race.

While Herta struggled at the rear of the grid, the action continued to unfold upfront. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak managed to hold the lead, but behind him Oliver Goethe immediately overtook Joshua Duerksen. On the second lap, however, Goethe spun and lost many positions. Duerksen also passed Inthraphuvasak, putting the Paraguayan in the lead. On lap 8, Van Hoepen had an eager Nikola Tsolov behind him, who spun and dropped a huge number of places. As a result, the Dutchman moved up to tenth.

Martinius Stenshorne received a five-second penalty for leaving the track. At that moment he was running in fifth, and with Van Hoepen in ninth, it was time for some calculations. Midway through the sprint, it was even the Trident driver who set the fastest lap. On lap fifteen, Mari Boya put his car into the wall, bringing out the safety car. Van Hoepen decided not to pit, so he stayed on the softs. That meant he had to fiercely defend his ninth place in the closing laps.

With three laps to go, Van Hoepen passed Camara and moved into the points. Up front, Duerksen restarted the sprint perfectly and drove away from everyone, ultimately winning the sprint race with relative ease. Van Hoepen finished seventh and thus scored his first points of 2026.

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