Stenshorne leads Rodin 1-2 in attritious Montreal F2 feature race

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Martinius Stenshorne survived a Formula 2 feature race of attrition in Montreal after five interruptions to claim his maiden win, leading Alex Dunne in a Rodin Motorsport one-two.

In damp conditions, Stenshorne had started the race third behind Laurens van Hoepen and Nikola Tsolov. Tsolov got the jump off the line and took the lead around the outside of the first corner, only for van Hoepen to fight back on the inside of Turn 3.

By lap four, Tsolov was pressuring van Hoepen once more, resulting in the Trident driver spectacularly crashing into the ‘Wall of Champions’ exiting the final corner.

This triggered the first safety car period, which began too early for drivers to make their mandatory pitstops. Emmo Fittipaldi did pit at the restart at the end of lap seven, only to skate off into the barriers at pit exit on cold tyres, causing the safety car to rejoin the track.

This time, most of the field did pit and there was drama in pit lane, with John Bennett – who started fourth – released into the path of Rafael Villagomez and damaging his suspension, forcing him to retire.

Tsolov emerged still in the net race lead ahead of Stenshorne, but was forced wide trying to pass Mari Boya on the restart, allowing Stenshorne by. Worse followed for Tsolov when he was spun around at the final chicane by contact from Kush Maini.

After losing ground at the start, Rafael Camara tried to fight his way past Villagomez but the pair made contact, damaging Villagomez’s car and triggering a virtual safety car.

One of only a few drivers to start the race on the harder tyre, Roman Bilinski had inherited the lead when most of the field pitted, but conceded it to Stenshorne when he ran deep into the hairpin on lap 19.

While team-mate Dino Beganovic worked his way up into second and set off after Stenshorne, Bilinski became another driver to tangle with Camara, who was sent spinning to the back of the pack.

Beganovic’s lead chase didn’t last long as he was forced to pull over with an issue, bringing the safety car out once more.

Dunne had inherited second after battling past Gabriele Mini, and suggested over the radio that team-mate Stenshorne should “go for it on the restart” and “work together” rather than repeat their infamous Melbourne collision.

The restart came with six laps left but this soon became only three minutes, most of which would be run under safety car once again after Ritomo Miyata tangled with Oliver Goethe coming out of the hairpin.

Stenshorne secured victory to leap up to fourth in the championship while Mini extends his points lead after completing the podium. Tsolov recovered to fifth behind Joshua Duerksen.

Race results (37 laps)