Stenshorne leads home Rodin 1-2 in Montreal F2 Feature

Martinius Stenshorne claimed his first FIA Formula 2 victory in the Montreal Feature Race, leading Rodin Motorsport teammate Alexander Dunne across the line after an eventful afternoon in Canada. Championship leader Gabriele Minì completed the podium with a third-place finish.

Laurens van Hoepen was under pressure at lights out into Turn 1 as Nikola Tsolov took the lead around the outside of the pole sitter. The Dutch driver fought back and powered through on the run to Turn 3 to take the lead once more. Rafael Villagómez was up three places on the opening lap, and he made that four spots gained with a DRS pass on John Bennett into the final chicane to take P4 at the end of lap 2.

Lap 4 and Rafael Câmara was on the move, diving to the inside of Minì into the first corner to take seventh position. The race leader was under pressure down the back straight from Tsolov and had to defend into the final corners. The Trident driver successfully defended into the chicane, but a snap of oversteer on corner exit put him into the "Wall of Champions," taking him out of the race and bringing out the safety car on lap 5.

With van Hoepen out of the car and his Trident cleared away, racing resumed on lap 7 with Tsolov able to retain top spot. Emerson Fittipaldi took the chance to pit at the restart, but he spun off at pit exit without any tire temperature, bringing out the safety car once again.

The second interruption brought everyone in for their mandatory stops, handing the lead over to Roman Bilinski. Tsolov emerged ahead of Stenshorne and Villagómez, but the Mexican had contact with Bennett as the Trident car exited his pit box, leaving the Briton with race-ending damage.

Bilinski, Colton Herta, Kush Maini and Mari Boya remained on track, with all but America's Herta starting the race on the soft tyres. Tsolov headed up those that pitted in fifth. Racing resumed on lap 13, and Bilinski got a good jump on Herta and the chasing pack to lead by a second over the line.

Tsolov attempted an immediate move on Boya at Turn 1, but the Spaniard ran the Bulgarian wide, allowing Stenshorne to sneak through to take fourth position ahead of the Campos driver and Boya. Lap 14 and Stenshorne took third from Maini with a dive into Turn 10. Tsolov looked to have followed the Rodin driver through but contact at the final chicane with Maini left the Bulgarian driver spinning down the order.

Stenshorne continued his progress through the pack, taking second from Herta into the final chicane on lap 16. Câmara made a dive to the inside of Villagómez at Turn 1 to take P4 but their pair made contact at Turn 2, leaving the Van Amersfoort Racing driver with race-ending damage and bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.

The VSC was withdrawn at the end of lap 18 and Câmara was under immediate pressure from Dino Beganovic. The Brazilian skipped across the final chicane and that allowed the DAMS Lucas Oil driver through for fourth. Bilinski had a comfortable lead but a lock-up into Turn 10 on Lap 19 let Stenshorne through, with Herta completing his own pass into the final corners to take second. Beganovic then moved by his teammate into Turn 1. The Ferrari Juniors charge continued with a pass on Herta on the run to Turn 12 on lap 20.

Câmara had been in the wheel tracks of Bilinski in the fight for fourth, but an attempt to pass on the inside of Turn 2 resulted in contact between the two. It left the Invicta driver spinning down to last. The Polish driver’s defense of fourth ended on lap 24, with Minì and Dunne getting through. Dunne then looked to take advantage of a wide entry to Turn 10 by Minì, but the Italian used DRS to get back past for third.

Lap 26 and the Rodin driver got his revenge, using DRS to take third into the last chicane. Beganovic’s charge was over though on lap 27 as he pulled to the side of the road with a technical issue. His DAMS needed clearing away and that brought out the safety car.

Racing resumed entering lap 34 with the two Rodins heading the field, Stenshorne from Dunne with Minì in third. Maini was yet to pit and both Duerksen and Tsolov set about quickly passing the ART Grand Prix driver, moving into the top five and relegating the Indian driver to P6.

With the race switched from the full distance to a timed race, Oliver Goethe made contact with Ritomo Miyata, leaving the MP Motorsport driver in the barriers and bringing the safety car out one final time.

The safety car ran to the end of the race, with Stenshorne taking his first victory and leading a Rodin 1-2 ahead of teammate Dunne. Minì completed the podium in third. Tsolov took fourth after his earlier spin. Sebastián Montoya took P5 for PREMA Racing ahead of Cian Shields in sixth. Nico Varrone, Herta, Boya and Maini completed the points positions down to 10th.

“The weekend was very good. Already in qualifying we had good pace, first part didn’t look so good but apart from that, the whole weekend was very good," said Stenshorne. "Getting a podium on both days too feels special. So I’m glad to take points in the Feature Race as well.”

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