Nikola Tsolov snatched victory in the Formula 2 sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, diving past Laurens Van Hoepen at the final corner after a tense three-way fight. The Bulgarian's win sustains his early championship lead and follows his feature triumph at the season’s first round in Australia.
It also marked a sharp turnaround from a difficult Friday in Miami, when Tsolov failed to complete a lap in practice and then qualified only 10th for the feature race. That result put him on sprint pole under the reverse-grid format, but he still had to absorb pressure for the duration.
Van Hoepen’s Trident shadowed the leader throughout and remained in the fight to the flag, only for Tsolov to pull off the decisive move at the last turn. Rodin’s Alex Dunne closed rapidly in the final stages and nearly capitalised on the leaders’ duel but settled for third. Van Hoepen’s haul lifts him to second in the standings.
The series’ first race in the United States produced drama before lights out. Kush Maini, who will be on pole for the feature race, was left stranded on the grid as the formation lap began; his ART was pushed from 10th and he started from the pit lane.
American Colton Herta was aggressive in the opening exchanges, running side-by-side with John Bennett through Turns 14 and 15 before sealing 13th at Turn 16 for Hitech. He later finished 15th.
The power of Miami’s three DRS zones kept the top five compressed and repeatedly dragged the pursuers within striking distance down the long back straight. Tsolov resisted Van Hoepen on laps two and three before the Trident driver was forced to look rearward at Joshua Durksen’s Invicta.
A slide for Van Hoepen at Turn 16 on lap five opened the door, and Durksen pounced at the end of the straight to grab second and chase Tsolov. One lap later Durksen erred at the same spot, allowing Van Hoepen to reclaim P2 and giving the leader a brief respite as the race settled into a rhythm.
That calm was broken when Tsolov cut across the Turn 14 chicane, which briefly disrupted the tow and reshuffled the spacing at the front. In the pack, Herta continued his progress by beating Roman Bilinski to 12th on lap 13 after the DAMS driver ran wide under braking at Turn 11, though he remained 4.1 seconds adrift of Goethe ahead.
Attention now turns to the feature race, where Maini will start from pole and Tsolov lines up 10th after qualifying. With Van Hoepen up to second in the standings, the next bout in Miami will further shape an early title picture already defined by fine margins.
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*Originally published on [News Formula One](https://newsformula.one/article/tsolov-wins-miami-f2-sprint-with-last-corner-overtake). Visit for full coverage.*