Tsolov takes comfortable F2 Feature victory in Melbourne

Nikola Tsolov claimed his maiden victory in Formula 2 in the Feature Race on the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, becoming the first Bulgarian driver to win in the series. Rafael Camara followed his fellow rookie home, taking P2 for Invicta Racing, while Laurens van Hoepen earned TRIDENT a podium in third position. Meanwhile, American IndyCar veteran and F2 veteran Colton Herta scored his first points with a solid race to take seventh.

“Very excited to finally win my first F2 race in a Feature Race on top of everything as well," Tsolov said. "I think in Qualifying we already had the pace to be fighting for pole. Then coming into today after a tough day yesterday, I tried to put everything back together and be resilient, and managed to take home the win.” 

Tsolov leads the standings after Round 1 with 25 points ahead of Camara in second on 18, level on points with Laurens van Hoepen in third. Ritomo Miyata is fourth on 14 points, one ahead of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

AS IT HAPPENED

Martinius Stenshorne got the start he needed to take the lead from second, but teammate Alexander Dunne was challenging him for the lead into the first corner, slotting into P2. Tsolov also got a good getaway from the grid, moving up to third position for Campos Racing. Teammate Noel León made contact with Oliver Goethe and slipped down the order with damage.

Dunne dived to the inside of his teammate at Turn 11 on lap two, and the two Rodins remained side-by-side through to Turn 13 as Stenshorne fended off his teammate. On the run to Turn 1 on the following lap, Dunne got a slipstream and looked to have a move done, but contact between the pair left both with damage and out of the race. Tsolov inherited the lead ahead of Camara and Beganovic before the safety car was deployed to recover the Rodin cars.

The safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap five, and Tsolov began to build a buffer over the Invicta driver behind him. Ritomo Miyata was on the move on lap seven, rounding Kush Maini into Turn 9. Sebastian Montoya was the first to pit for a mandatory stop, switching to the soft compound tires. Beganovic was in from third on the following lap as the top two continued on. The Swede filtered out in 11th position, prompting Tsolov and Câmara to respond on lap 10. The duo rejoined in the same order they entered, but Beganovic had lost positions to Laurens van Hoepen and Goethe, though now had his tyres up to temperature.

Into Turn 5, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member dived to the inside of the MP and claimed eighth on the road. He then claimed seventh from the TRIDENT at Turn 9 and was homing in on the back of Camara before the end of the lap.

After a few laps in the wake of the Brazilian, Beganovic made a great dummy into Turn 9 to take fourth place down the inside on lap 14. The DAMS driver’s progress was for nought, however, as he pulled to the side of the track on lap 17 and into an early retirement. With his car in need of clearing, the virtual safety car was deployed, then converted into a full safety car on lap 19. That allowed Nico Varrone, on the alternative strategy, to make his mandatory stop and fit the supersoft tires and re-join with his lead intact. He was later handed a 10-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Racing resumed on lap 22 with the Van Amersfoort Racing driver under pressure from behind. Tsolov made an immediate dive to the inside at Turn 3 to take the lead. Crucially, Camara couldn’t follow his rival through, allowing the Bulgarian to build a buffer. A dive to the inside at Turn 11 on lap 27 gave the Invicta driver P2, but the gap to the race leader stood at 2.2s heading into the final six laps.

Despite a valiant defense, Varrone slipped out of the podium places on lap 29 as van Hoepen and then Goethe completed passes on the Argentine at Turns 9 and 11.

Miyata made a late race charge for Hitech, taking P6 from Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and then fifth from Varrone on lap 30. Out in front though, Tsolov was uncatchable and claimed victory for Campos in Melbourne. Câmara and van Hoepen completed the podium.

Goethe wound up fourth ahead of Miyata, Inthraphuvasak, Colton Herta, Gabriele Minì, Montoya, and Joshua Duerksen, who rounded out the points in P10.

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