F2 – RND 11 – Day 2 & 3

Sprint Race-

Miyata had a great start and took the lead before Turn 1 ahead of Fittipaldi. Noel Leon held on to P3 ahead of van Hoepen who, alongside Gabriele Mini and Mari Boya, started on the soft tyres, while the rest chose Hards.

There were plenty of battles, as Rafael Camara overtook Dino Beganovic for seventh at Turn 5 while Alexander Dunne dived to the inside of Roman Bilinski for P8 at Turn 8.

The Safety Car was called upon at the end of the lap. Kush Maini and Nico Varrone had contact at Turn 7 which sent the Van Amersfoort Racing driver spinning into the barrier.

Elsewhere, Sebastian Montoya and John Bennett collided at the opening corner. Both drivers came back into the pitlane, and while the former continued on, the latter retired with damage.

Racing resumed on Lap 5 of 23, with Dunne looking to make a move. The Rodin Motorsport driver went to the outside of Camara at Turn 5, but his Invicta Racing rival held on.

The Irishman tried the same move on the next lap but again found the door shut.

Further ahead, van Hoepen was keen to make his tyre advantage count, and the Trident driver dived to the inside of Leon at Turn 13 but could not make it stick.

Van Hoepen then dived to the inside of Leon at the Turn 5 chicane on Lap 9. The Campos driver reclaimed the position at Turn 8, but having gone off track, he was told to give the place back to the Trident a couple of laps later.

Leon was struggling and his teammate Tsolov tried to take advantage with a move past at Turn 1 on Lap 13. He held him off, but their fighting was bringing Martinius Stenshorne, Camara, Dunne and Boya into the mix.

Fittipaldi had closed to within 1.1s of Miyata, but van Hoepen was almost half a second quicker, as he set the fastest lap of the race.

Tsolov, having been on the radio calling for Campos to let him go and catch van Hoepen, tried a move at Turn 5. But as he went off the track to get ahead, the Bulgarian gave Leon back the place.

Unfortunately for the Red Bull Junior, his day was over a few corners later. A slight brush with the wall at Turn 20 spun him into a stoppage, bringing out the Safety Car.

With Tsolov’s car cleared, Miyata led the field to green on Lap 18, with van Hoepen immediately putting Fittipaldi under pressure.

The Hitech driver was in good form, having pulled out of a 1.3s lead and set the fastest lap of the race.

Van Hoepen had DRS and was within 0.3s of Fittipaldi on Lap 20, but the Brazilian was doing well to hold on to P2.
Miyata however was in a league of his own, driving away from the rest to win by 2.6s – giving Hitech their first victory since the 2025 Baku Sprint Race.

Feature Race-

It was a great start from pole for Beganovic, while Dunne retained P2 ahead of Rafael Camara, despite locking up into Turn 1.

Behind them, Nikola Tsolov, who was the lead driver to start on the hard tyre, was sitting in fifth but coming under pressure from Roman Bilinski.

The Safety Car was signalled with Kush Maini in the barrier at Turn 8 after a collision with Cian Shields. The AIX Racing driver was given a 10 second time penalty for his part in the incident.

Racing resumed on Lap 7 with Trident bringing Laurens van Hoepen into the pitlane from P8. Mari Boya and Van Amersfoort Racing duo Nico Varrone and Rafael Villagomez also came in for their mandatory stop.

Noel Leon then got past Bilinski for P6 at Turn 1, while Gabriele Mini dived to the inside of teammate Oliver Goethe for ninth at Turn 13.

The Italian attempted the same move on Miyata on Lap 10 but ran too deep, allowing the Hitech driver to retain eighth.

At the end of the next lap, Leon was the first of the front runners to come into the pitlane. He put on the hard tyre and lost out to Boya, who was flying on the softs, at the exit.
The Mexican driver then went side-by-side with John Bennett through La Monumental but kept the position.

Stenshorne and Tsolov were in from P4 and P5 on Lap 14, and while the Rodin driver stayed ahead, the Bulgarian lost out to Boya, although he was able to fire up his soft tyres to overcut Camara.

Oliver Goethe was next to pit from P8 and came out right in front of Boya and Tsolov, just as they were fighting for position. As they went three-wide into Turn 5, the Campos driver ran off track, but as he filtered out, he lost the place to Camara.

Boya then made his way past the MP driver at La Monumental, with Camara now sizing up a move on Goethe.
The two went side-by-side through Turn 1 at the start of Lap 18 but Goethe wound up in the barrier at the exit of Turn 2. This brought out the Safety Car while Camara was give a 10 second time penalty.

At the same time, Bennett pulled over to the side of the road with an issue with the marshals also having to clear his Trident.

This stoppage allowed the drivers who had not pitted to come in for their mandatory stop, all gaining an advantage and making up the top six positions ahead of Stenshorne.

Racing resumed on Lap 22 of 32 as Beganovic started to pull away from Dunne. Mini made a move past Stenshorne for seventh, once again at his favoured Turn 15.

Camara was keen to get a move on and went past Boya with the help of DRS into Turn 5, while Tsolov followed him through on the next lap.

The race was now running to time and with just under seven minutes, Dunne brought the gap to Beganovic down to one second, but the Swede responded with the fastest lap to extend the lead to 2.2s.

Further behind them, Fittipaldi was holding on to P4 as Duerksen put him under pressure. The Paraguayan tried a move at Turn 15, but the AIX driver held on.

Tsolov then lost P10 to Bilinski, with the DAMS driver using the DRS to get ahead into Turn 5. Duerksen’s pressure on Fittipaldi finally told with Invicta making a neat move on the brakes into Turn 13.

Tsolov’s day was going from bad to worse as he lost more places to Boya, Leon, van Hoepen and Montoya all overtaking him on the penultimate lap.

But out in front, Beganovic was in supreme form, winning for the first time this season. Dunne was second ahead of Miyata.

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