Formula 2: Stenshorne brings home a maiden race win amidst Montréal chaos

Written by Jasmin Low

Martinius Stenshorne led a 1-2 finish for Rodin Motorsport in a Feature Race filled with surprises | Credit: Formula 2

Formula 2 bid farewell to the Americas with the conclusion of the Feature Race in Montréal, bowing out in spectacular fashion. 

The Feature Race saw multiple drivers involved in the fight for the race win, with multiple safety car-inducing incidents scattered throughout the race as the drying track surface and cold temperatures delivered a significant challenge.

Laurens van Hoepen set the pace for TRIDENT in qualifying, claiming his maiden pole position ahead of Rafael Câmara and Alexander Dunne. However, both Câmara and Dunne were found guilty of impeding, resulting in three-place grid drops being delivered to the pair after the session had concluded.

The penalties promoted Nikola Tsolov to the front row, whilst Martinius Stenshorne and John Bennett also moved up a position, filling the second row of the grid.

Also handed a penalty was Oliver Goethe, who brought out the red flags following a crash in qualifying, dropping him to 21st on the grid. 

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who was due to start from 15th, decided to withdraw from the race weekend due to medical reasons, meaning that 21 cars would line up on the starting grid for both races. 

Saturday saw Noel León claim his maiden race win ahead of Gabriele Minì and Martinius Stenshorne, with the eight-point boost to Minì’s points tally earning him the championship lead.

As it happened

The race got underway on a still-drying track surface, although the rain began to creep in as the field made its way through the Turn 10 hairpin for the first time. 

Tsolov leapfrogged van Hoepen at the race start, with the Dutch driver hampered by a lock up into Turn 1. However, van Hoepen managed to retake the race lead a few corners later.

Whilst defending from Tsolov behind, van Hoepen skidded into the concrete barrier at the exit of Turn 14, a site more famously known as the Wall of Champions. 

The resultant safety car period saw the field feed through the pit lane, with no car making its mandatory pit stop as the pit window opened on Lap 6. 

However, soon after racing resumed, Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. found the barriers, struggling for grip on pit exit. 

The safety car’s prompt return saw almost the entire grid return to the pit lane to make their mandatory pit stops, promoting those who had made the decision to begin the race on the soft tyre to the front of the field. 

Contact between Bennett and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez in the pit lane saw Bennett incur suspension damage and become the second car to retire from the race.

The second safety car restart would be crucial for those on colder tyres to keep clean. Roman Bilinski, was left to control the field as the safety car period came to an end, quickly breaking out of DRS range and escaping up the road from Colton Herta, who had also opted to stay out despite being on the softer tyre compound. 

A wheel-to-wheel battle between Tsolov and Aston Martin junior Mari Boya allowed Stenshorne to make his way into the net race lead, forcing the Bulgarian to try and claw back the position from the Rodin Motorsport driver. 

However, Tsolov’s chance at a podium soon slipped away following contact from Kush Maini at the final chicane, sending the Campos driver into a spin and down into 16th. 

Villagómez’s race came to an end following more damage to his car, forcing him to pull over to the side of the track. 

The hairpin at Turn 10 proved to be a great overtaking opportunity, with a wide-running moment from Bilinski seeing Stenshorne moving into the race lead. The moment also allowed Herta to pass, whilst Dino Beganovic also moved ahead of his teammate.

An attempt from Câmara to get by one of the DAMS cars saw him making contact with his rival, spinning around and dropping to the back of the field. The Brazilian was handed a five-second time penalty, electing to rejoin the race multiple laps down in order to avoid carrying the penalty over to the next round in Monaco.

Rafael Câmara was involved in his fair share of drama over the course of the weekend | Credit: Formula 2

It was a battle of the Alpine juniors that played out between Minì and Dunne, who fought over third place, whilst slightly further back, a 4-way battle between Maini, Boya, Joshua Dürksen and Ritomo Miyata unfolded as they attempted to move further up into the points paying positions.

Beganovic managed to persist despite smoke beginning to spurt from his DAMS machine, managing to continue until Lap 27 where he eventually stopped on the side of the track. 

With the safety car called out yet again, the Rodin Motorsport pair of Dunne and Stenshorne found themselves together at the front of the field. 

Boya also fell victim to the lack of tyre temperature on pit exit, locking up and having to attempt to rejoin the circuit.

Stenshorne led the bunched-up field as green flag conditions resumed, racing ahead of the chasing pack. However, his efforts to escape up the road were short-lived, as Goethe and Miyata came together at the exit of Turn 11, with slightly over two minutes on the clock.

With the race brought to a close under the safety car, Stenshorne secured his maiden F2 race win to add onto his first-ever podium from the sprint. After not having either car finish a Feature Race in rounds prior, the result also marked a 1-2 finish for Rodin Motorsport. Minì completed the top three, marking a second podium of the weekend for the Italian. 

The victory marked Stenshorne's first in Formula 2, moving him up to fourth in the Drivers' Standings | Credit: Formula 2

In addition to Câmara’s penalty, León, Dürksen and Bilinski all saw extra time added to their races after the flag had dropped, with the penalty extended to 10 seconds for the latter two drivers.

Despite dropping to the back of the field earlier in the race, Tsolov managed to fight his way back up the order, earning him a fourth-placed finish whilst Sebastián Montoya rounded out the top five finishers.

The championship

Minì keeps up his streak as the only driver to have scored points in every race this season, retaining the championship lead. He leaves Canada with a 10-point gap to Tsolov in second, with the gap to Câmara being a further eleven points. 

Campos Racing continue to lead the Teams’ Championship from MP Motorsport, whilst a haul of 43 points for Rodin Motorsport from the Feature Race put them just four points further behind.