Balgarianovinite.com Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov won the Formula 2 sprint race at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK on Saturday after a head-to-head with title rival Gabriele Mini of Italy. Tsolov thus moved to the top of the drivers’ standings.
The Bulgarian, who competes for Campos Racing, finished 1.2 seconds ahead of the MP Motorsport Italian and secured his fifth victory of the season, two of which have now come in Saturday sprint races.
Setting out from sixth on the grid, Tsolov made the best start inside the top ten, quickly overtaking Joshua Duerksen and Ritomo Miyata to move up to third place behind Rafael Villagomez and race leader Mini. However, the race was soon slowed for a lengthy period following a collision between Sebastian Montoya and John Bennett.
The race remained behind the safety car until lap seven, and just one lap after the restart Tsolov managed to pass Villagomez for second place. By that stage, Mini was still leading after setting two fastest laps and held a 1.2-second advantage over the Bulgarian.
On lap 14 of 21, Tsolov closed to within one second of Mini for the first time, launching a series of attacks, one of which proved successful in the closing metres, allowing him to cross the line in first place.
As a result, Tsolov is now level on points with the Italian in the overall standings, but leads the championship due to having more race victories so far this season.
Earlier on Saturday, the target for Tsolov and Campos Racing had been a top-five finish in the Silverstone sprint, but the 19-year-old delivered a standout performance to take victory.
Tsolov told Diema Sport television: “We did not expect to win today, we just wanted to finish in the top five. I had a good start, I was aggressive and moved up to third place. After that it was difficult to overtake Gabriele, who defended well, but in the end we secured our fifth win of the season. We made a good step forward from yesterday to today.”
The Bulgarian also confirmed that he and the team plan to start the main race on soft tyres and switch to hard compounds during the race. “If it is dry, the plan is to start on soft tyres and then move to hard ones. Today’s strategy worked well and we will try to repeat it tomorrow,” added the Formula 2 championship leader.
The main F2 race of the British Grand Prix is due on Sunday at 1:15pm Bulgarian time. Tsolov will start from fifth position, while Mini will line up tenth. Nikola Tsolov Wins F2 Sprint in UK to Take Championship Lead 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-04 14:38:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law