Starting in sixth, the Campos Racing driver made excellent progress early on, and after a multi-lap battle overtook Minì on the final lap. The MP Motorsport driver added an eighth podium to his 2026 resume, finishing ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez.
AS IT HAPPENED
It was a good start from polesitter Minì, while Ritomo Miyata was down to fifth at the end of the opening lap after starting second. He lost out to Rafael Villagómez, Nikola Tsolov and Joshua Duerksen after a difficult first few corners.
The Hitech driver’s slow start was made worse by Kush Maini going around his outside at The Loop for fifth at the start of Lap 2.
Moments later, the Safety Car was called with John Bennett having stopped down the main straight. The TRIDENT driver looked to have been caught up in incident involving Sebastián Montoya and Colton Herta.
With the track clear, racing resumed on Lap 7 as Minì maintained the lead. Further behind, Roman Bilinski tried to go around the outside of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak for seventh at Copse, but the ART Grand Prix driver closed the door.
After making his way up to P3 on Lap 1, Tsolov was now second on Lap 9, as he went around the outside of Villagómez at Stowe. Once this happened, MP immediately told Minì that he had to push with his championship rival now right behind him.
Miyata’s difficult race continued as Inthraphuvasak overtook him at Stowe to go up to sixth.
Bilinski was next to attack the Japanese driver, but Miyata closed the door at Brooklands and at Stowe, as he defended his place in the points.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver eventually got past on the way down the Hangar straight on Lap 13. His teammate Dino Beganovic followed him through a few corners later at the Loop.
Back at the front, Tsolov had closed to within 0.7s of Minì at the start of Lap 15 of 21.
Just behind them, Kush Maini, having bided his time behind Duerksen for much of the race, went to the inside of the Invicta at Brooklands for fourth.
On to Lap 16 and Tsolov made his first move on his rival. The two went wheel-to-wheel through Stowe, with the race leader defending well to keep position.
Elsewhere, Inthraphuvasak went around the outside of Duerksen at Luffield to move up to fifth. The Paraguayan was slowly falling back and came under pressure from Beganovic, who had just past his teammate Bilinski.
After a few laps behind, Beganovic was up to sixth past Duerksen. The Swede made a nice move at the inside of the Vale chicane, with Bilinski following him through a few moments later down the Hangar straight.
In the battle for victory, Tsolov was just 0.4s behind on the penultimate lap, but again he found Minì tough to pass, as Villagómez closed in.
However, the MP Motorsport driver locked up into the Loop at the start of the final lap. This gave Tsolov the opening he needed and with the help of DRS, the Bulgarian took the lead of the race down the Wellington Straight.
He would go on to claim a second consecutive victory, as Minì held off Villagómez across the line to maintain P2. The ART duo Maini and Inthraphuvasak followed in fourth and fifth, with Beganovic in sixth ahead of Bilinski as Duerksen rounded out the points.
KEY QUOTE – Nikola Tsolov, Campos Racing
“P1 in the Sprint today, very good recovery and very good understanding of the car for tomorrow, so looking forward to the Feature Race.”
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Nikola Tsolov and Gabriele Minì are now tied at the top of the Standings on 116 points, but the Campos Racing driver is on top having achieved five victories this season. Rafael Câmara is third on 82 points ahead of Alexander Dunne on 80, as Noel León rounds out the top five with 67 points.
In the Teams’ Championship, Campos Racing lead the way on 178 points, with MP Motorsport in second on 144. Rodin Motorsport are third on 128 points, ahead of Invicta Racing on 106, and followed by ART Grand Prix and DAMS Lucas Oil, who are tied on 75.
UP NEXT
The drivers will be back out on track for the Feature Race at 11:15 local time on Sunday morning.
