ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini delivered a commanding drive to secure victory in the F2 Sprint Race at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
With the reverse-grid format in effect for Saturday’s Sprint Race, Campos Racing’s Noel León once again finds himself on the front row, lining up alongside ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini, setting the stage for an intriguing battle into Turn 1.
A Top to Bottom Lead
Maini got a great launch from P2 to take the lead in the opening metres. Polesitter Noel León slotted in behind, with his Campos teammate Tsolov making a great start to take third into Turn 1, having started from P5 on the grid.
There was contact at the exit of Turn 10 between Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Duerksen. However, the incident damaged the Rodin Motorsport driver’s front wing. while Joshua Dürksen slid through the gravel and fell to the back of the field. Consequently, the stewards handed Martinius Stenshorne a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision a few laps later.
Minì made a bold move on Lap 2, rounding Colton Herta at Turn 3 on the outside to go to fourth, adding to his early progress having started seventh.
With DRS enabled, Tsolov made the move on his teammate at the first corner at the start of Lap 3, whilst Maini escaped up the road and beyond the window. Maini’s lead was up to 3.5s over Tsolov, with the Indian driver setting the fastest time of the race on Lap 4.
Heading into Lap 6 with DRS, Minì got alongside León into Turn 1 and completed the move on exit.
By Lap 10, the field had settled down and Tsolov began to eat back into the race leader’s buffer, getting the gap down to 3.2s after Maini had extended it over four seconds just a few laps prior.
Penalties and Pushing Limits
At the halfway stage, Rafael Câmara closed in on Rafael Villagómez and launched an attack into Turn 1. However, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver defended aggressively, forcing Câmara onto the escape road before rejoining behind. Meanwhile, Villagómez continued to hold sixth position despite mounting pressure from a tightly packed DRS train behind.
The Mexican driver headed a queue stretching from sixth down to 17th, with every driver remaining within range. However, Villagómez’s determined defensive effort suffered a setback when Race Control intervened during the second half. Officials handed the Van Amersfoort Racing driver a five-second time penalty after he exceeded track limits repeatedly.
A Dominant Win
As the race entered its penultimate lap, Colton Herta reduced the gap to just four-tenths of a second across the line. The American continued to apply pressure, but Gabriele Minì defended the inside line into Turn 1 on the final lap to protect second place. However, Herta’s podium challenge unravelled moments later.
A costly lock-up into Turn 5 sent the Hitech TGR driver through the gravel, dropping him from contention and down to fifth position.
Out front, Maini remained untouchable throughout the closing stages. The ART Grand Prix driver cruised to victory by more than seven seconds, capping off a dominant performance. Behind him, Minì secured second place, while Tsolov successfully held off teammate Noel León to claim the final podium position in third.
Results
Kush Maini claimed this much awaited win ahead of Mini and Tsolov. León followed his teammate to secure fourth with Herta, Pole Sitter Câmara, Beganovic and Dunne completing the points scoring spots.
FIA Formula 2 returns for the feature race at 11:25 local time.
Featured Image Credits: Formula 2 on X