After a dramatic season in Formula Sprint 2, the Yas Marina Circuit hosted the final round of the championship.
Both titles had already been decided back in Interlagos, but with championship winner Singh absent from this race, the door was wide open for potential new race victors.
Qualifying
In qualifying, it was Junio Lopes who claimed pole position for Race 1 on his return to the grid. He narrowly held onto P1, fending off a late challenge from Ben Skinner, who missed out by just four hundredths of a second. Joe Gillett completed the top three.
One of the biggest talking points from qualifying was the impressive debut of the GPVWC Academy team; Brazilian Tiago Mello and Spaniard Luis Mesa made strong impressions by qualifying P4 and P7 respectively.
Race 1
Positions were crucial heading into Race 1, particularly for Ben Skinner, who had a chance to make a late push for third in the championship against Mikael Tuomaala and Magnus Okkenhaug. Starting from the front row with his rivals further back in 5th and 12th respectively, things looked promising for the Englishman.
The opening lap was eventful, with Skinner overtaking Lopes at Turn 6 to take the race lead. Further back, Mello suffered a major slide, dropping to P20, while four drivers sustained damage in the opening exchanges.
Over the course of the 15-lap race, the action remained fierce throughout the field. Skinner managed his lead confidently to claim his first victory since Barcelona. Lopes held off Czerwinski and Gillett to secure P2, while Tuomaala prevailed in a battle with Glamester. Mesa scored his first GPVWC points in ten years in P7, and Mateusz Piszczan led an intense six-car train to finish P9. The race ended dramatically, with Okkenhaug pulling off a bold last-corner move on Remco De Zeeuw to clinch P10.
Race 2
With Skinner winning Race 1, attention turned to the final race of the season. Thijs Jongstra, who had finished P12 in Race 1, inherited pole position for the reversed-grid Race 2. Skinner once again looked strong and aimed to repeat his Interlagos success. Meanwhile, the battle between Okkenhaug and Tuomaala for 3rd in the driver’s championship resumed with just six points separating them.
As night fell over Yas Marina, Jongstra made a perfect getaway. Behind him, chaos ensued as Piszczan, Okkenhaug, and De Zeeuw engaged in intense battles, allowing Jongstra to build an early lead. The opening laps saw four retirements and plenty of contact.
Midway through the race, Piszczan once again found himself leading a train of cars in the fight for P2. Okkenhaug, capitalising on his pace, overtook the Polish driver on Lap 8, putting pressure on Jongstra. Drama struck when Luis Mesa, running near the podium, was spun by Ben Skinner, who was charging through the field from 12th. The incident also left Antonis Paparinopoulos without a front wing.
As the race unfolded, Skinner pushed hard but couldn’t quite secure third in the championship. Jongstra held on to take his first victory since Silverstone. Unfortunately, Magnus Okkenhaug suffered a connection issue late on, dropping him from second to third, allowing Skinner to claim another podium and end the season on a high.
Christian, Skinner’s teammate, was set for his best finish since Montreal but was forced to retire on the final lap due to a hardware issue. Further back, Tuomaala made a last-lap charge from 7th to 5th, narrowly beating Okkenhaug by one point in the standings and securing a double podium in the Drivers’ Championship for Scuderia Kap Clay.
Looking Ahead
While the races were messy and incident-filled at times, the night races provided non-stop action and close competition throughout the field. The season has been up-and-down from a standards point of view, and we look forward to 2026 being an improvement on this.
Remco summed it up well. “I’ve had an absolute blast in the final 2 races of the season! Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting much as my pace looked awful in practice. Combine that with the sub-par driving standards of the division and surely you’ll get a disastrous cocktail. However, I was pleasantly surprised! Not only was my pace good enough for some points, the FS2 grid as a whole also showed what they’re capable of. Apart from some incidents this looked to be the cleanest round of the season by a long shot, and it was a true pleasure to be among the drivers that night! We all showed what an amazing series this can be, and I hope last round’s standard will carry on towards the 2026 season.”
With expected driver moves and team changes on the horizon, everyone looks to GPVWC Day for announcements on who will be competing in FS2 in 2026.
