Noel León wins out after key strategy call in F2 Feature Race in Hungary
- Vyas Ponnuri
- Jul 26
- 5 min read
Campos racer Noel León capitalised on a key opportunity to pit before the VSC was called out around the Hungaroring, fending off a chasing pole-sitter Kush Maini and Invicta's Rafa Câmara to take his first F2 Feature Race win of the season.
In a close shootout towards the end, he would prevail by less than a second from Maini, to much cheers from the Campos pit wall.
Trident's Laurens van Hoepen rounded out a strong weekend for Trident in fourth, while the other ART of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak came home fifth.
DAMS' Dino Beganovic came home in a strong sixth, ahead of championship leader Nikola Tsolov, while Invicta's Joshua Dürksen, MP Motorsport's Gabriele Minì and Trident's John Bennett rounded out the points around Hungary.
An exciting 37-lap Feature Race, and here's how it all played out from lights out to the chequered flag!
AS IT UNFOLDED - F2 Feature Race at Hungary
It was ART's Kush Maini who started from pole position for the Hungarian Feature Race. The Indian driver had claimed his second pole position earlier this weekend, setting a lap that proved a tenth of a second too good for Invicta's Rafa Câmara, while Campos' Noel León started the race in third.
Maini was still chasing a maiden Feature Race win in F2, and the tight and twisty traits of the Hungaroring provided the perfect opportunity to make that happen.
Even before the five red lights went out, there would be a driver stalling on the grid. For the second weekend in a row, it was a DAMS car that faced trouble getting away, with Roman Bilinski wheeled away into the pit lane as the drivers set off on their formation laps.
The Indian driver would nail his getaway from the five red lights, coming across to cover Câmara and the fast-starting León. Despite a lock-up into Turn 1, Maini held on to the lead, even building a margin to the rest of the field on the opening lap.
Further back, championship leader Nikola Tsolov would go off track at Turn 4, rejoining onto the track in the path of Rodin's Martinius Stenshorne and dropping the latter to the rear of the field. Back in the front of the field, the other ART and Invicta cars swapped positions, with Joshua Dürksen moving up to fifth on the soft tyres.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, running in sixth, was the first driver on the medium compound of tyres, and would still hold on to a train headed by León's Campos. Maini had already opened up a gap of almost three seconds in the opening laps of the race.
Stenshorne would report a damaged steering, and make his way into the pits. He would eventually rejoin the track, albeit two laps down on the rest of the field.
Further back, Tsolov made his way into the points on Lap 7, with an overtake that nearly mirrored his move on Montoya from the sprint race on Saturday. Catching up to the PREMA driver in ninth, he made his way past with a cleaner overtake into Turn 1 on the following lap.
Back at the front, Maini had grown his gap to over four seconds by Lap 10, consistently lapping quicker than León over the course of the opening stint of the race.
Even as he extended the gap past the five-second mark, the medium-tyred runners began to close in, with Inthraphuvasak being the first to signal his intentions, moving past Dürksen to take fifth on Lap 14.
The pit stops began to take place among the front-runners, as the likes of Gabriele Minì and Dürksen made their mandatory pit stops of the race. León made his pit stop onto Lap 17, before the virtual safety car was called out for the stopped VAR of Rafael Villagómez at Turn 13. He became the first DNF of the race.
With the VSC withdrawn onto Lap 18, León looked to have gained time by pitting under this slow period of play, with the gap to race leader Maini at 30 seconds. Câmara too made up ground on Maini, cutting the gap to the Indian to under five seconds by Lap 20.
The Brazilian came into the pits on Lap 21, but emerged close to six seconds behind León, who appeared to be in a strong position. A lap later, Maini would emerge out of the pits, however, stuck behind the slower traffic of Emerson Fittipaldi Jr and Ollie Goethe, who hadn't pitted yet. He would fall behind León, with a five-second gap to the Mexican to close down.
Maini would also face pressure from the chasing Câmara, as they closed down on the Fittipaldi and Goethe battle ahead. The ART man eventually made his way past, however, they had both lost plenty of time to León's Campos, the gap out front at four seconds on Lap 25.
Further back, the likes of Inthraphuvasak and Beganovic closed in on those ahead after making their pit stops, with the Thai driver getting past Minì's MP Motorsport on Lap 26 to claim eighth.
Beganovic would then do battle with the Italian, before making his way past at Turn 3 the following lap. Minì would then come across his closest championship contender in Tsolov, defending firmly as the duo closed up to Goethe and Beganovic ahead.
In the lead battle, though, Maini had closed down the gap to the other Campos of León to 1.8 seconds, setting up a big finish as the Invicta of Câmara too came along.
Tsolov would make his way past his closest championship contender Minì in an unorthodox overtake through Turns 13 and 14, with the MP Motorsport driver's tyres running out of grip.
Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne would be the final driver to make his pit stop on Lap 32, with the Irishman even having a moment of oversteer and locking up on the pit entry, as he attempted to make the most of his medium tyres.
With five tours of the circuit to go, Maini had closed down the gap to race leader León to under a second, set to benefit from the all-important DRS around the circuit. His teammate Inthraphuvasak would make his way past Dürksen's Invicta to take fifth, after several laps of perseverance and tries.
Maini would stay within DRS range as the race counted down to its final laps, dragging Câmara along as the trio would fight it out for victory. León still held onto the lead heading onto the final lap, though, as Maini lost the crucial DRS to the Mexican.
Despite all his efforts, the Indian driver wouldn't be able to score the Feature Race win he had been chasing. León would grab his first Feature Race win of the season, adding to his tally of two sprint wins, ahead of Maini and Câmara.
An exciting race in Hungary, and here's how it played out after 37 laps of racing at the Hungaroring!
Classification - F2 Feature Race at Hungary
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Rafa Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
John Bennett (Trident)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Nicolás Varrone (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport) - +2 laps
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing) - DNF
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