Maini dominates Barcelona F2 sprint race as championship rivals collide

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Kush Maini produced a dominant display around Barcelona to claim his first Formula 2 victory of 2026 in the sprint race.

While the ART Grand Prix driver remained untroubled throughout the race, two championship rivals Nikola Tsolov and Gabriele Mini came to blows while battling for the second step on the podium.

Maini charged into the lead as the lights blinked out, jumping pole sitter Noel Leon before turn 1 while third-place starter Colton Herta found himself falling behind Tsolov.

The field remained fairly well behaved up until turn 12 where Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne attempted an optimistic dive on Invicta Racing’s Joshua Duerksen, the Paraguayan coming off worse after a trip to the gravel sent him to the rear of the field. Stenshorne would later receive a 10-second penalty for the incident, sending him to the rear of the field.

By the end of lap 1 Maini had built himself a 1.1-second lead over Leon who quickly came under pressure from his team-mate Tsolov. The Bulgarian barged past on the outside of turn 3.

Tsolov’s championship rival Mini was also making progress, passing Herta for fourth into turn 1.

Having been passed by Tsolov, Leon began to tumble down the order. The winner of the last two sprint races found himself in fourth place by the end of lap 6 having been passed by Mini also.

Elsewhere, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez was clinging desperately to his sixth place position, defending from Invicta’s Rafael Camara into turn 1. The Mexican’s defensive efforts proved futile as the Brazilian forced his way past before Villagomez found himself slapped with a five-second penalty for track limits.

With five laps remaining, Maini was controlling the pace upfront, 4.8s clear of Tsolov in second who was coming under increasing pressure from Mini.

The Italian looked to the outside of turn 1 and swooped into second, but made contact with Tsolov’s front wing in the process, causing the Campos driver to lose an endplate.

With Tsolov’s damage, Herta and Leon looked to find a way past. The American moved himself into the podium places on lap 24 while Leon struggled to find a way through.

Herta looked set for a maiden podium but a lock up at turn 4 while chasing Mini caused the Hitech driver to drop to fifth, handing third place back to Tsolov.

Up ahead, Maini remained untroubled on his way to victory. Mini came in second 7.2s adrift with Tsolov claiming a fortuitous third place. Polesitter Leon followed with Herta fending off Camara in the dying stages to round out the top five.

Race results (26 laps)