F2 Sprint Results and Report From Last Lap Thriller at the Miami Grand Prix

Formula 2 championship leader Nikola Tsolov overtook Laurens Van Hoepen at the final corner to take victory in the Miami sprint race after a thrilling three-way battle.

The Bulgarian followed up his feature race victory at round one in Australia to make up for a difficult Friday, during which he failed to complete a lap in practice before qualifying 10th for the feature race.

That gave him pole for the shorter sprint, though he was made to fight for the win after a race-long battle with Trident driver Van Hoepen, who is now second in the standings.

Rodin driver Alex Dunne joined the fight late on and was almost able to pick up the pieces but ultimately finished third, while American Colton Herta was unable to make an impression en-route to finishing 15th for Hitech.

Dramatic first race in United States

Drama struck before the race even began as Kush Maini, who will be on pole for the feature race, was left stranded on the grid as the formation lap began. The ART was pushed from 10th on the grid and was able to start from the pitlane.

At the start, Tsolov made a fine start to hold the lead from Van Hoepen, while there were battles ongoing all the way through the midfield on the opening lap.

LIGHTS OUT ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️

WE'RE RACING IN THE USA FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! 🇺🇸🦅

Nikola Tsolov leads the way as Laurens van Hoepen and Joshua Duerksen slot in behind #F2 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/orkiqJfv8Z
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 2, 2026

Oliver Goethe dropped from row two down to 10th early on, while Noel Leon made up ground to reach eighth. Herta was also on a charge and managed to go side-by-side with John Bennett through Turns 14 and 15 to secure 13th at Turn 16.

The strength of the three DRS zones was proving a problem for Tsolov as the four drivers behind all profited from the extra speed. The Bulgarian was, however, able to fend off Van Hoepen's advances on laps two and three before the Trident driver was forced to look in his mirrors at Joshua Durksen.

A slide at Turn 16 on lap five was enough to invite a challenge from Durksen on Van Hoepen, the Paraguayan making the move stick at the end of the long back straight for second and allowing him to get after Tsolov's lead.

But a mistake from the Invicta driver at the same spot just one lap later allowed Van Hoepen to return serve, giving the leader a chance to breathe.

The battle at the front had stagnated for a number of laps before Tsolov made an error at Turn 14, cutting across the chicane and shaking Van Hoepen off his tail temporarily.

In the pack, Herta was on the move against Roman Bilinski for 12th on lap 13. After an aggressive defence from the DAMS driver, a mistake under braking at Turn 11 allowed the American through, albeit 4.1 seconds behind Goethe up ahead.

On the same lap, Van Heopen pounced on Tsolov on the run to Turn 17, snatching the lead from the Red Bull junior.

But Durksen behind was beginning to struggle and found himself detached from the top two and instead found himself battling Nico Varrone and Dunne for the final podium place.

Tsolov wasn't taking anything lying down though and got back ahead of Van Hoepen at the end of lap 15, though the positions swapped back out of Turn 10 with DRS proving important. Perhaps expectedly, Tsolov returned to the front at the end of the lap.

By lap 18, Dunne had made his way past Varrone and found himself latched onto the back of Durksen's Invicta. But a rash move into Turn 1 saw Dunne off the road and unable to hold third, forcing the duo over two seconds adrift of the top two.

Dunne was able to make the move stick with five laps to go, but by that time the battle for third had extended down to Leon in ninth.

Things were heating up at the front as the laps ticked by and Van Hoepen tried to wrestle the lead back again with just three laps to go. But going deep at Turn 17 allowed Tsolov to get back through and stay ahead for another lap.

The battle went all the way to the final lap and Tsolov was powerless to defend from Van Hoepen, who had DRS on the run to Turn 11. But a lock-up gave Tsolov and Dunne, who had closed in, hope.

Tsolov went around the outside at Turn 17, Van Hoepen tried to defend and Dunne looked for space to the inside of Turn 18. Somehow, the Campos driver held on to extend his championship lead, with Dunne squeezed out and settling for third behind Van Hoepen.

LAP 23 / 23

TSOLOV RETAKES THE RACE LEAD! #F2 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/2OcHrkYbFk
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 2, 2026

Varrone got past Durksen for fourth, with Martinius Stenshorne sixth in the second Rodin. Gabriele Mini was seventh, with Dino Beganovic eighth to pick up the final point available having started outside the top 10.

Herta's race unraveled with two separate lock-ups in the second half, eventually finishing 15th on the road.

F2 Miami: Sprint race results

Position	Driver / Team
1	Nikola Tsolov / Campos
2	Laurens Van Hoepen / Trident
3	Alex Dunne / Rodin
4	Nico Varrone / VAR
5	Joshua Durksen / Invicta
6	Martinius Stenshorne / Rodin
7	Gabriele Mini / MP Motorsport
8	Dino Beganovic / DAMS
9	Noel Leon / Campos
10	Rafael Camara / Invicta
11	Oliver Goethe / MP Motorsport
12	Ritomo Miyata / Hitech
13	John Bennett / Trident
14	Roman Bilinski / DAMS
15	Colton Herta / Hitech
16	Sebastian Montoya / Prema
17	Mari Boya / Prema
18	Cian Shields / AIX
DNF	Emerson Fittipaldi / AIX
DNF	Kush Maini / ART
DNF	Rafael Villagomez / VAR
DNF	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak / ART

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