SPRINT RACE: Tsolov earns win number two of 2024 in Spielberg

Nikola Tsolov took Spielberg Sprint Race victory in a three-way battle with Martinius Stenshorne and ART Grand Prix teammate Christian Mansell. The Bulgarian pulled off a late-race overtake just before the second of two Safety Cars and held off Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Stenshorne on a final lap shootout for his second win of the year.

AS IT HAPPENED

Pole sitter Stenshorne tried to cover off Mansell from lights out, but the Australian was able to get alongside him into Turn 1 to take the lead. The Hitech driver tried a re-pass into Turn 3 but was left running off the track, giving Tsolov momentum to take second position into Turn 4, making it an ART one-two.

Dino Beganovic was a spinner at Turn 1, falling from inside the top 10 down to 25th. Kacper Sztuka was an early retirement and was stranded on circuit, requiring the Safety Car to neutralise things.

Racing resumed on Lap 5, and Mansell was able to retain the advantage in front. Luke Browning was on the move after his grid penalty left him starting from 15th, going three-wide into Turn 4 to pass Nikita Bedrin and Arvid Lindblad to move into 11th position.

With DRS, Tsolov was able to get alongside teammate Mansell into Turn 4 and rounded the Australian on the outside to take the lead on Lap 7.

Browning moved himself into the points-paying positions at the expense of Tim Tramnitz, moving down the inside at Turn 3 on Lap 10 to secure 10th from the MP Motorsport driver.

Onto Lap 12 and Fornaroli put a brave move on Bedrin to move up to 14th, passing the AIX Racing driver around the outside of Turn 6.

Having shadowed his teammate after being passed, Mansell re-took the lead of the race from Tsolov at Turn 3 on Lap 15, but the Bulgarian was immediately back on the attack to take first back at Turn 4.

Lap 16 was a busy one as Montoya looked to make a move on Alex Dunne at Turn 1, but the MP driver resisted the pressure to hold onto the position.

Up ahead, Mansell got a move at Turn 4 to stick on Tsolov, able to take the lead from his ART teammate and remain ahead. Gabriele Minì got brave and rounded Oliver Goethe on the outside at Turn 6 to secure sixth position.

Contact with Trident’s Sami Meguetounif at the end of the lap for Lindblad left the PREMA Racing rookie with a puncture and dropped him out of the points fight.

Onto Lap 17 and the fight for the lead continued, with Tsolov getting back through on Mansell at Turn 4, a slow corner exit for the Australian allowed Stenshorne a run through Turn 5, putting the Norwegian up to second.

The fight for the top five places continued just behind the trio but after a heated battle Montoya made contact with Dunne and was left spinning at Turn 4. The Colombian driver was out of his car and OK, but the crash required another Safety Car.

The Safety Car was withdrawn with one lap to go, setting up a final lap sprint to the finish. Tsolov got the restart he needed to put some distance between himself and Stenshorne, and the Bulgarian earned his second Sprint Race victory of the year ahead of the Hitech driver.

Mansell rounded out the podium in third to ensure two ARTs made the rostrum, while Dunne ended fourth ahead of van Hoepen in P5.

Minì took sixth ahead of Goethe, Tramnitz, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León and Meguetounif, with the Frenchman rounding out the points in P10.

KEY QUOTE – Nikola Tsolov, ART Grand Prix

“Great result again, another win for me. It’s the Sprint Race so hopefully we can put the new tyres on tomorrow and recover some places and get more points in the Feature Race.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Leonardo Fornaroli leads Luke Browning as neither of the top two drivers in the Championship added to their points tallies in the Sprint, on 84 and 79 points respectively. Gabriele Minì closes the gap in third position, now on 77 points. Arvid Lindblad remains in the top five places, six points behind his PREMA teammate in fourth while Oliver Goethe is fifth, now on 67 points for Campos Racing.

Over in the Teams’ Standings, PREMA Racing remain ahead on 213 points with ART Grand Prix moving up to second on 144, three points ahead of Trident in third, now on 141. Campos Racing are fourth with 119 while Hitech Pulse-Eight complete the top five with 105 points to their tally.

UP NEXT

The Spielberg Feature Race is set to get underway on Sunday morning at 08:30 local time around the Red Bull Ring. Luke Browning goes from Pole Position and will be aiming to leave Austria in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship.