The Bulgarian driver claimed victory in one of the most memorable races in the category in recent times, packed with countless position changes throughout Saturday’s event. He remains at the top of the championship standings, as does Campos Racing. On Sunday, it was León’s turn to shine, finishing just tenths of a second shy of the podium on a difficult, rain-affected day
The first-ever appearance of FIA Formula 2 on American soil produced a truly sensational weekend of racing. Both Campos Racing drivers delivered outstanding performances. On Saturday, the championship leader produced a stunning display to secure his second consecutive victory in the category, this time on a circuit new to all drivers, Miami. Although a rival would later take Tsolov out of contention on Sunday, his teammate Noel León picked up the baton, continuing to impress in his rookie season and fighting for a podium finish right up to the chequered flag.
Friday’s free practice session dealt a significant blow to the team’s plans, as Tsolov and León together managed to complete only eight laps on a track that was unfamiliar to everyone. In Tsolov’s case, a technical issue brought his session to a premature end. For the Mexican, a spin left him stranded on track and unable to continue.
As a result, qualifying had to be approached with minimal mileage and by maximizing the limited data gathered earlier. However, the work of Campos Racing’s engineers, along with the drivers’ efforts, helped to overcome this disadvantage despite ambient temperatures exceeding 30°C and track temperatures nearing 60°C. On his second flying lap, Tsolov had already broken into the top ten. Shortly after the midpoint of the session, drivers fitted their second set of tyres, which proved decisive. Tsolov set a 1m40.265s lap to secure tenth place and, with it, pole position for Saturday’s reverse-grid race. León posted a 1m40.461s lap time, placing him thirteenth—a strong result given the circumstances.
Saturday’s sprint race, scheduled for 23 laps, featured extreme heat as an additional challenge, particularly regarding tyre degradation. When the lights went out, Tsolov held onto the lead firmly despite pressure from Laurens van Hoepen. León, meanwhile, climbed five positions in the opening lap to move up to eighth. But there was still a long race ahead. While Tsolov initially benefited from battles behind him involving van Hoepen, Joshua Dürksen, and Nico Varrone, he soon had to defend heavily from lap nine onwards, with his rivals gaining a crucial advantage from DRS.
After several defensive moves, van Hoepen managed to pass Tsolov on lap 13, but the Campos Racing driver reclaimed the lead two laps later with a superb move at Turn 17. Over the following laps, the two drivers exchanged positions multiple times. In the closing stages, they continued to trade places, but it was the Red Bull-backed driver who ultimately prevailed, retaking the lead once again at Turn 17 on the final lap. He then pulled clear enough to fend off both van Hoepen and Alex Dunne, with the trio even running side by side in the final meters on heavily worn tyres. León finished ninth but secured the extra point for fastest lap, adding valuable points to his tally.
Sunday’s feature race was brought forward due to forecasts of torrential rain. Although it was not raining at the start, the track was fully wet and temperatures were much lower than the previous day. At the start, Tsolov held the inside line, but Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak missed his braking point into Turn 1, colliding with the Bulgarian, spinning him around and ending his race after just a few meters. León managed to avoid the incident and was already up to ninth when the safety car was deployed.
After the restart on lap four, León gained two more positions and was running seventh by lap eight. As the track began to dry, Dunne outbraked himself and could not rejoin, triggering another safety car. León was now sixth. Many drivers took the opportunity to pit, including León. The race, now running against the clock rather than laps, resumed with 24 minutes remaining. However, it lasted only one lap before another multi-car incident brought out the safety car again, with León gaining two further positions. It had become a true race of survival.
The safety car made yet another appearance, leaving the final five minutes under green-flag conditions. León, showing strong pace in the closing stages, attacked Rafael Câmara from every angle but ultimately crossed the finish line in fourth place, just four tenths behind the Brazilian.
After this second round, Tsolov continues to lead the drivers’ standings with 35 points, while León moves up to sixth with 21. In the teams’ championship, Campos Racing also holds first place with 56 points.
The next round will again take place in North America, this time at another new venue, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, on May 23–24.
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing Driver in FIA Formula 2): “Miami was quite difficult. But overall, we managed it to execute it well. We maximized what we could. Obviously without doing the free practice was pretty difficult in order to gain any knowledge on the new track. But then we still managed to score a top-ten finish in qualifying. Later, we achieved an amazing sprint race win, which was impressive. It was a very exciting battle for the win. I was feeling quite confident for feature race to score a few more points but unfortunately, I got taken out at turn one and I couldn’t do anything to avoid it. At least, we got a limitation damage weekend taking into consideration as it started. We still came out leading both championships. We now move on to Canada, another step into the unknown, which will be another place to try achieve more success.”
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
