Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov seized victory in Silverstone’ Sprint Race after a heated fight with championship rival Minì.

The victory, Tsolov’s fifth of the season, takes him to the top of the championship after he overtook title rival Gabriele Minì on the final lap.

The Bulgarian, who had started sixth, made a rocket start and quickly rose to third, before passing Rafael Villagomez in the VAR to take second. He then pressured race leader Mini, who had started from reverse-grid pole.

That pressure forced a lock-up from the Italian at Turn 3 on Lap 21, allowing Tsolov to blast past and score consecutive victories for the second time this year. It leaves him level on points with Mini at the top of the championship, ahead by virtue of having five wins to Minì’s one.

Saturday’s Sprint Race started with a vital formation lap for the drivers. With high degradation expected, warming up the brakes and tyres was key up and down the grid.

The first lap began smoothly with all drivers avoiding any incidents through the first corners. Starting on pole, Minì got away quickly, ensuring Miyata couldn’t make a move and take the lead into Turn 1.

At the start, Villagómez had fought to get past Miyata, getting his Van Amersfoort car up into P2. Tsolov followed quickly, surging from sixth to third and pushing a seemingly struggling Miyata down into P4.

As the front runners began Lap 2, an incident in the final sector brought out the yellow flags which swiftly produced a safety car. Montoya ran off into the gravel, and when Bennett took avoiding action, the two tangled in the gravel trap. Bennett spun before stopping stationary on the start-finish straight, leaving Montoya to pull into the run-off, ending both drivers’ races.

Both drivers climbed out of their cars and were okay.

With a heavy clean-up needed, the safety car continued. During this period, Câmara and Stenshorne were noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as well as a separate incident for Miyata and Dürksen.

The safety car peeled into the pits at the end of Lap 6. With tyre temperatures dropping, it was a fight between the grid as to who could get their tyres in the correct temperature window the quickest.

At the restart, Minì controlled the pace, staying calm even when those behind were piling on the pressure. All 20 remaining cars made it through the restart until Shields dropped to the back of the grid after a spin.

DRS was enabled ready for Lap 8, and Bilinski was forced to defend to Inthraphuvasak but the Thai driver swept past. This move left Bilinski vulnerable to his DAMS team mate Beganovic who closed behind.

When Villagómez struggled through the exit of a corner, Tsolov capitalised on this and made a move on the outside as they passed through Stowe. Then the Bulgarian set his sights on his championship rival Minì ahead

As the race hit halfway, Minì put in consistent lap times, upping the pace when his engineer alerted him to a quick closing Tsolov behind. Both drivers were breaking away from the other pack, maintaining lap times that were three tenths quicker than those like Villagómez and Maini behind.

A ten second penalty was handed to Stenshorne when stewards reviewed a side by side move with Câmara.

Villagómez began to utilise DRS and slip stream in an attempt to stay with Tsolov, hoping to join him in the battle for first in the second half of the race. However, Tsolov continued his chase for Mini, leaving Villagómez behind.

Battles were heating up throughout the pack. Whilst attempting a move on Miyata, who had built a large pack of cars behind him, Bilinski suffered a large lock up, creating a flat spot on his front left tyre.

Despite vibrations from the flat-spot, he eventually found his way past Miyata, building distance between himself and Beganovic. This didn’t last long as, whilst defending to Dunne, Beganovic launched a surprise move on Miyata, getting himself up to P9.

With only a third of the race left, Tsolov closed the gap, leaving only six tenths between himself and Minì. The gap to Villagómez settled at a comfortable two seconds, leaving the championship contenders to plan their battle.

On Lap 16, Tsolov inched forward, lowering that gap even more. The Red Bull junior piled on the pressure, sticking with the back of Minì’s car as they headed down the Hangar straight.

Defence was key for Minì in the closing laps, fighting against multiple strong attacks from Tsolov around Stowe. This intense battle allowed Villagómez to catch up, staying behind the fight in hopes of a last minute move.

In the closing laps, Boya and Leon made contact in a fight for 12th place. This left both drivers with minor damage but allowed them to continue on to finish the race.

However, yellow flags briefly made an appearance in Lap 20. Whilst Varrone was fighting in the mid-pack with Herta, Stenshorne went unnoticed and was clipped by the Argentinian.

Trying to break out of a chain of cars, Beganovic launched a move on Durksen. When he tried to switch back, Beganovic closed the door, securing his position in the second to last lap.

The final lap began as the fight for P1 continued. Tsolov returned for an attack but launched a predictable move which Minì covered off. They continued to fight throughout the lap until Minì locked-up, allowing Tsolov to take the position on the Wellington straight.

Another mistake by Minì left him vulnerable to Villagómez and unable to push for an attack on Tsolov, but the lap ended before positions could change. Maini and Inthraphuvasak finished in fourth and fifth respectively when their pace couldn’t be converted into a podium challenge.

For the Feature Race tomorrow, Tsolov and Minì will be level on points. Their championship battle continues to heat up in Silverstone, with an exciting second half of the season ahead.

You can catch the Feature Race in Silverstone at 11:15 (GMT + 1) tomorrow!

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