Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov passed chief title rival Gabriele Mini on the final lap to win Formula 2’s Silverstone sprint race.
The Campos Racing driver drew level with Mini at the top of the standings by taking his fifth victory of the season, while Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez claimed his second sprint race podium in a row.
MP Motorsport’s Mini lined up from reversed-grid pole, and he made a fast start to lead into Abbey corner, where Villagomez swept around the outside of Ritomo Miyata for second.
Having contested the lead of the sprint race in Austria one week ago, Trident’s John Bennett and Prema’s Sebastian Montoya experienced very different fortunes this time around by both retiring at the end of lap one. Bennett followed Montoya into the gravel exiting Club corner, and the pair made light contact before Bennett spun back across the circuit.
The safety car was deployed, and racing resumed on lap seven of 21.
Having climbed from sixth to third on the opening lap, Tsolov continued to make progress by completing a move around the outside of Villagomez for second at Stowe on lap eight.
With Mini in his sights, the Bulgarian racer continued his charge, catching the race leader in the closing stages.
Tsolov tried another outside move at Stowe with six laps remaining, but Mini remained ahead, but the Italian’s resistance was broken on the last lap.
Mini locked up into Village for the final time, and Tsolov capitalised by drawing alongside at the Loop, and then again into Brooklands where he completed the move on the outside.
The battle allowed Villagomez to close in, but he had to settle for third at the chequered flag.
ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini finished fourth ahead of his team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, with DAMS duo Dino Beganovic and Roman Bilinski coming home in sixth and seventh respectively.
Invicta Racing’s Joshua Duerksen scored the final point in eighth, having run fourth early on before being shuffled down the order, whole Miyata also struggled for pace and dropped out of the points.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
