2026 F2 Season Roundup – Round Six – Austria

Roundup of the sixth round of the 2026 F2 season in Spielberg, Austria as the title fight continued. 

Gabriele Mini arrived in Austria with a six-point title lead over Nikola Tsolov but a weekend packed with twists and turns saw the pair draw closer towards each other come the completion of the round.

 

Practice

Kush Maini and Alex Dunne were first on track but it was PREMA’s Sebastian Montoya who set 1m 32.484 as the initial benchmark, but it was Campos’ Noel Leon who set the pace with 1m 29.312 then 1m 25.291.

Once the representative lap times began to be laid down, Mini set 1m 17.384 as the benchmark from Maini by 0.080 seconds.

MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe however set the ultimately fastest lap time of 1m 16.978 in the 13th minute to head Tsolov by 0.070 seconds, with Dunne third fastest.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	1m 16.978
2	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.070
3	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.180
4	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.366
5	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.405
6	Gabriel Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.406
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.412
8	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.443
9	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 0.476
10	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.477
11	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.512
12	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.587
13	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.593
14	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 0.632
15	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.659
16	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.670
17	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 0.687
18	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.700
19	John Bennett	Trident	+ 0.705
20	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 0.764
21	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.890
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 1.266

 

Qualifying

Dunne was first on track and set 1m 30.828 as the initial benchmark time but Leon soon headed the top three on 1m 16.283 from Tsolov and Durksen, with the top three after the first fliers split by 0.186s.

Camara on his second flier lowered the benchmark time to 1m 16052 but Campos opted to send Leon out for a mid-session flier, which paid off as the Mexican set 1m 15.544 to claim his first F2 pole with Dunne his eventual nearest challenger albeit 0.129s down.

Tsolov, Mini, Camara, Inthraphuvasak, Goethe, Villagomez, Bennett and Montoya completed the top ten.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Noel Leon	Campos	1m 15.544
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.129
3	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.186
4	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.225
5	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.240
6	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.255
7	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.313
8	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.319
9	John Bennett	Trident	+ 0.352
10	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.411
11	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.425
12	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.519
13	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.582
14	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.653
15	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 0.717
16	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.725
17	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.733
18	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 0.869
19	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 1.027
20	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 1.036
21	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 1.064
22	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 1.218

Sprint Race

At lights out, Montoya lost the lead to Bennett but the safety car was deployed after Camara ran into Inthraphuvasak at Turn 3, which sent the latter and Goethe spinning out.

Racing resumed at the end of lap 3 with Camara and Dunne demoting Mini to sixth on the restart at the beginning of lap 4.

Up front, Montoya made a late-braking move on Bennett on lap 8 at Turn 3 for the lead and proceeded to control the pace until the end.

Bennett however bided his time and waited until the final lap when he got a switchback out of Turn 4 and outdragged Montoya through Turns 5 and 6 to snatch his maiden F2 victory.

Villagomez, Dunne, Mini, Camara, Bilinski and Maini completed the top eight on the road.

Post-race, Camara received a five-second time penalty to drop him from sixth to ninth in the classification for causing the opening-lap incident, which consequently elevated Bilinski, Maini and Tsolov up a position each.

In the standings, Mini extended his lead over Tsolov to nine points whilst Dunne leapfrogged Camara into third and 18 points off the title summit.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	John Bennett	Trident	28	39m 23.246
2	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	28	+ 1.496
3	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	28	+ 1.634
4	Alex Dunne	Rodin	28	+ 2.388
5	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	28	+ 2.579
6	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	28	+ 5.233
7	Kush Maini	ART GP	28	+ 6.098
8	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	28	+ 8.450
9	Rafael Camara	Invicta	28	+ 9.908
10	Noel Leon	Campos	28	+ 12.830
11	Mari Boya	PREMA	28	+ 13.050
12	Nico Varrone	VAR	28	+ 15.941
13	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	28	+ 17.324
14	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	28	+ 18.028
15	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	28	+ 25.027
16	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	28	+ 25.611
17	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	28	+ 31.287
18	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	28	Mechanical
19	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	28	Damage
20	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	28	Collision
21	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	28	Collision
22	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	28	Collision

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Leon got a clean start as Tsolov and Mini swept past a sluggish-starting Dunne, and Tsolov proceeded to take the lead into Turn 3.

The safety car however was quickly deployed after Durksen cut across the exit of Turn 2 and unintentionally sent Montoya clattering into Villagomez, with the latter pair consequently eliminated from the race.

Racing recommenced on lap 5 but two laps later, Leon pitted from second which triggered those on the supersoft tyres to pit, as he was jumped on lap 8 by Dunne who proceeded to pass Tsolov on lap 13 for the net lead after the pair cleared Mini following the Italian’s stop on lap 10.

Tsolov however kept Dunne within DRS range and pounced into Turn 1 on lap 25 after Dunne ran wide out of the final corner at the end of the previous lap, with Mini following through three laps later.

Up front, Goethe pitted at the end of lap 28 on the leading alternative strategy, with Inthraphuvasak and Varrone following suit two laps later.

Tsolov consequently inherited the lead again on lap 31 and sprinted away to his fourth victory of the season ahead of Mini.

Dunne fought off Camara and even nudged him wide at Turn 3 on lap 33 which played into Goethe’s hands as he dispatched Durksen for sixth early on lap 36, then he swept round Camara and Dunne on the outside of Turn 4 to take third.

In the drivers’ standings, Tsolov cut his title deficit to Mini down to just two points, whilst Camara moved back into third and 26 points off the summit.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	40	56m 10.538
2	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	40	+ 3.993
3	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	40	+ 12.198
4	Rafael Camara	Invicta	40	+ 14.903
5	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	40	+ 15.514
6	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	40	+ 19.667
7	Alex Dunne	Rodin	40	+ 20.710
8	Noel Leon	Campos	40	+ 21.367
9	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	40	+ 21.801
10	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	40	+ 22.449
11	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	40	+ 22.772
12	John Bennett	Trident	40	+ 26.781
13	Kush Maini	ART GP	40	+ 28.330
14	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	40	+ 31.266
15	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	40	+ 31.300
16	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	40	+ 32.990
17	Nico Varrone	VAR	40	+ 33.059
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	40	+ 34.626
19	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	40	+ 35.623
RET	Mari Boya	PREMA	25	Mechanical
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	0	Collision
RET	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	0	Collision