After the success of Joshua Dürksen (Invicta) the day before, who had
already won in Melbourne last year, the Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov
won the main race of
Formula 2 at the end of a particularly lively event,
confirming the promising potential of the
2026 season.
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The driver for
Campos Racing, leader of the
Red Bull Junior Team (photo above), was able to take
advantage of several key moments to win.
Rodin not a prophet in his
own country
From the third lap, he
occupied third place behind the two drivers of
Rodin Motorsport,
Martinius Stenshorne and
Alex Dunne. Very aggressive in their duel, the two
teammates eventually collided at the first corner, causing
their double retirement and a tense start to the season in the
Australian team’s garage.
Later in the race, another
turning point occurred with
Dino Beganovic. The poleman, driver for
DAMS and member of the
Ferrari Driver Academy, had completely missed his
start before beginning a solid comeback through the field.
Mixed fortunes for the
Ferrari juniors
After passing his
fellow Ferrari academy member
Rafael Câmara, he seemed to be in a position to aim for victory.
But a sudden mechanical problem forced him to stop on
track, causing a neutralization.
The lead of the race then
provisionally went to
Nicolás Varrone, driver for
VAR, the Dutch team now led by Otmar
Szafnauer. The Argentine, a former Hypercar driver in WEC, was
however unable to capitalize: difficulty warming his tires and a
five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane
compromised his chances.
At the restart after the safety
car, Tsolov seized the opportunity to take the lead and
fly towards victory.
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Herta scores his first points
Among the other highlights
of the race was the performance of
Colton Herta. The American driver for
Hitech TGR, the first representative of the
Cadillac F1 academy, finished seventh and scored his first
points in the category.
This result is all the more
notable as his weekend had started poorly, with a crash during
practice and then a modest qualification in 14e position. Taking advantage of
several incidents ahead of him but also showing a solid
pace, Herta demonstrated that he could be competitive
when circumstances require.
Third place went
to
Laurens Van Hoepen, another rookie, offering an unexpected podium
to
Trident. A significant result for the Italian team, which
had experienced a
2025 season that was particularly difficult.
Naël unfortunate in F3
After brilliantly taking pole
in qualifying, Frenchman Théophile Naël (Campos) was
unlucky, being penalized for a jump start, which
relegated him out of the points.
After the VAR drivers’ one-two
on Saturday, Bruno Del Pino ahead of Frenchman Enzo Deligny, the
main race saw the victory of the American giant (in
height: 1,92 meters!) Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos) ahead of the
Audi F1 academy representative Freddie Slater (Trident) and the
Honda protégé Kaito Kato (ART Grand Prix).
The next meeting is scheduled in
Bahrain on April 10, unless the calendar changes. In the event
of the (probable) cancellation of the events in the Gulf countries, the
following rounds in F2 and F3 should be held in
Monaco in early June after three months of inactivity…
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