The Bulgarian lion was the King of the savanna this weekend, winning the sprint and the feature race. Nikola Tsolov remains the leader of the championship, with a 17 points margin on his closest rival.
Before the start of the race, Martinius Stenshorne had an engine issue and had to retire his car. Rafael Câmara and Alexander Dune both had a bad start, giving the head of the race to Kush Maini and Nikola Tsolov. Câmara and Dunne had a bit of an argument and the Brazilian had to give the position back to prevent a possible penalty. In only 3 laps, Kush Maini already had more than a 2 seconds margin. Varrone was catching up on Beganovic for a P10, after he gained eight positions at the start.
The drivers on soft tyres started to struggle with only five laps under their belt. However, you have to wait for the sixth lap to pit in Formula 2, so some drivers like Inthrapuvasak were overtaken by drivers on hard tyres. Most drivers on soft pitted as soon as the pit opened. Nikola Tsolov tried his first attempt to overtake Kush Maini, but with fresher tyres, he struggled to do so. Rafael Villagomez in front was told to push a little to keep Durksen behind out of the DRS range. Something he did perfectly as he had created a 3.2 seconds margin on lap 10. A lot of track limits were given, often on Turn 9 and 15. Varrone overtook Miyata for P15. On lap 15, drivers who pitted were catching up the drivers on hard, with Maini overtaking Cian Shields.
Alternative strategy works magic
On lap 17, Sebastián Montoya went straight in Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel, due to a broken rear suspension. While retiring his car, he declared that his teammate, Mari Boya, possibly hit him earlier. Tsolov went back into the back of Maini’s car, ready to attack him for the virtual lead of the race. Maini was super defensive, but the Bulgarian made a beautiful overtake at Stowe on lap 20. Beganovic tried to overtake Miyata but didn’t manage to do so and both drivers locked their tyres, giving the opportunity to Colton Herta to come closer. John Bennett was the first driver on the alternative strategy to pit on lap 22, but Trident failed his pit.
Gabriele Miní pitted a lap later, and went back on track in P12. He locked his tyres trying to keep the P11, which is not ideal on fresh tyres. Nevertheless, he started slowly going up and made two overtakes. Rafael Villagomez and Mari Boya pitted on lap 25. Villagomez went back on track in P6. Boya took a 5-seconds penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Oliver Goethe was the last driver to pit, probably waiting for a safety car. Inthraphuvasak and Varrone had a contact, breaking the VAR’s front wing. Despite a great rhythm, Villagomez didn’t manage to catch up on Tsolov. The Bulgarian won the race for the third consecutive time, Villagomez finished second and Kush Maini maintained his podium. Nikola Tsolov now has a 17 points margin in the championship.