Noel León has his first Formula 2 victory after surviving a bruising Montreal Sprint Race packed with contact, penalties and Safety Car interruptions.
The Campos Racing driver won at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday, 23 May 2026, after fighting back from early pressure and then controlling the final phase. Gabriele Minì finished second for MP Motorsport and left Canada with the championship lead. Martinius Stenshorne completed the podium for Rodin Motorsport.
It was not a simple lights-to-flag win. León had to rebuild his race more than once. He lost time in early fights, absorbed restarts, and then made the decisive move on Minì late in the race.
Montreal rewarded drivers who stayed calm under attack. It punished those who forced marginal moves at Turn 10, the hairpin that became the race’s main flashpoint.
Minì started from pole and made the cleaner launch. León moved into second at Turn 1, but Joshua Duerksen immediately put pressure on him. The Invicta Racing driver had started fifth and attacked early.
That first-lap fight mattered. Duerksen made slight contact with León at Turn 2, then took the place before Turn 3. Stewards later gave Duerksen a five-second penalty for the contact, which changed the shape of his race.
Once DRS opened, León pushed back. DRS is the drag reduction system, a rear-wing aid that helps a chasing driver on designated straights. León used that pressure into the final chicane on Lap 3, where Duerksen skipped across the corner and León retook second.
Duerksen responded one lap later with a DRS move of his own. Their fight helped Minì open a gap at the front. That was the first key strategic cost of the race. Battling hard can win one place, but it often hands the leader free time.
Behind them, Nikola Tsolov began to make progress. He passed Nico Varrone at Turn 10 on Lap 6, then later tried to attack Stenshorne at the same corner. That move created bigger damage.
Tsolov made contact with Stenshorne, which sent the Rodin Motorsport driver into John Bennett. Bennett spun down the order and the Safety Car was deployed after the Trident car stopped on track.
The stewards gave Tsolov a 10-second penalty for the incident. In Formula 2, a 10-second penalty can ruin a points finish, especially in a Sprint Race where the field is compressed and every place matters.
The Safety Car ended after Lap 14. Minì waited late before restarting the race, a common tactic used by leaders to stop rivals building momentum. León stayed close enough to attack into Turn 1, but Minì covered the lead.
The fight behind them became just as important. Rafael Villagómez seized third from Duerksen at Turn 10. Duerksen fought back, went across the final chicane, and then handed the place back on Lap 16.
Stenshorne then repeated the move on Duerksen at the hairpin to take fourth. Tsolov also attacked Duerksen one lap later, first at Turn 10 and then into the final chicane.
Duerksen’s difficult race got worse on Lap 18. Alexander Dunne made contact with him at Turn 10, pitching Duerksen into a spin and leaving him stranded. The Safety Car came out again, while Dunne received a 10-second penalty.
Just before that second interruption, León had made the race-winning move. He passed Minì into the final corners and took the lead. It was the moment that turned a comeback into control.
When racing resumed on Lap 22, León executed the restart properly. He accelerated before the final chicane and built enough space to stop Minì from attacking immediately. That small gap became the foundation of the win.
Dunne, despite the penalty hanging over him, kept pushing on the road. He passed Tsolov at Turn 5 after receiving news of the penalty over team radio. His raw pace was clear, but the result sheet would tell a different story.
Stenshorne tried to attack Villagómez after a strong run out of the final corner on Lap 24. He went side by side into Turn 1, ran wide, and cut across Turn 2. That cost him position to teammate Dunne.
Villagómez’s race ended soon after in a separate incident. He hit the wall at Turn 4 and damaged the car. Race control used a Virtual Safety Car to recover the car and clear debris.
A Virtual Safety Car slows the field to a controlled pace without bunching every car together behind a physical Safety Car. It usually freezes gaps more than a full Safety Car does, which helped León protect his advantage.
The VSC ended on Lap 27. León had almost four seconds over Minì, with Dunne closing on the MP Motorsport driver before the final lap.
Dunne passed Minì on the road with DRS, but the 10-second penalty dropped him back in the final classification. Minì therefore took second, with Stenshorne promoted to third.
León crossed the line for his maiden F2 victory and Campos Racing’s championship push gained real force. After the race, he called himself a winner and praised the car and the team’s work, saying he was “super happy” with the first win.
The final points order carried several important stories. Laurens van Hoepen finished fourth for Trident. Emerson Fittipaldi took fifth for AIX Racing, his best finish in the championship so far.
Dino Beganovic, Rafael Câmara and Roman Bilinski completed the points-paying positions down to eighth. In a weekend full of incidents, simply bringing the car home cleanly became a valuable skill.
The championship picture also changed. Minì now leads the Drivers’ Championship on 42 points, six ahead of Câmara. Tsolov sits third on 35, while León jumps to fourth on 32 after his victory.
Van Hoepen is fifth with 31 points. That means the top five are covered by only 11 points after the Montreal Sprint. One strong Feature Race can still reshape the order.
Campos Racing lead the Teams’ Standings on 67 points. MP Motorsport are second on 54, with Invicta Racing third on 52. Hitech and Trident complete the top five on 32 and 31 points.
For León, this win matters beyond the trophy. It proves he can manage pressure in a race that kept resetting. He made passes, handled restarts, and avoided the penalty trouble that hurt several rivals.
For Minì, second place still carried championship value. He lost the race lead, but he gained control of the standings. In a feeder series season, that balance matters. Points on difficult days often decide title fights.
The weekend is not finished. The Formula 2 Feature Race is scheduled for Sunday at 12:05 local time in Montreal. After Saturday’s Sprint, teams will be watching Turn 10 closely, because the hairpin shaped almost every major storyline.
León has changed his season with one sharp drive. Now the question is whether Campos can turn that momentum into a stronger Sunday, or whether Minì’s new championship lead becomes the real story of Round 3.
