Noel Leon benefitted from a well-timed pitstop under virtual safety car conditions to score his third Formula 2 victory in Sunday’s feature race in Budapest.
The Campos Racing driver denied early leader Kush Maini, who was forced to settle for second, while Rafael Camara completed the podium.
Invicta Racing’s Camara shared the front row with ART Grand Prix’s Maini, and while the latter converted pole into the lead at the start, Camara lost out to Leon and then had to fend off Tasanapol Inthrapuvasak at turn one to hold onto third.
Trident’s Laurens Van Hoepen then prevailed in a three-wide battle Camara’s team-mate Joshua Duerksen and Inthrapuvasak exiting the first corner to snatch fourth.
Maini romped almost six seconds clear during the first 16 laps before a VSC, caused by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez pulling off the circuit with an issue, turned the race on its head.
Leon dived into the pits for his mandatory stop during the caution period, and the time saved was enough for him to snatch the net lead when Maini emerged from his pitstop under green-flag conditions five laps later.
Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne led on an alternate strategy before pitting with five laps to go, and Leon kept Maini and Camara at bay for the remainder of the race to win by 0.8s.
Van Hoepen came home over 3s behind the trio in fourth, with Inthrapuvasak finishing fifth. Dino Beganovic and Nikola Tsolov both passed Duerksen to claim sixth and seventh respectively, Tsolov having recovered from 12th on the grid to extend his points lead over Gabriele Mini who finished ninth, and Dunne rounded out the top 10.
Featured image credit: F2 on X
