Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov had an excellent race and finished in seventh place in the main race of the Formula 2 round of the Hungarian Grand Prix, held at the “Hungaroring“ track, reports Sportal.bg. Tsolov started from 12th position after being penalized with five places on the starting grid for the incident with Sebastian Montoya during Saturday's sprint. The stewards assessed that the Bulgarian had made a too late and optimistic attack, which led to the collision between the two drivers. Initially, he was given a 10-second penalty, which was later converted into a five-place penalty for the main race, as he did not finish the sprint.
At the start, Kush Maini retained his first position, followed by Rafael Camara and Noel Leon (pictured), while Tsolov managed to break through in the first laps. The Bulgarian chose a strategy with the medium-hard tires, different from that of most of his direct rivals, who started with softs.
In the initial phase, the Campos driver gradually advanced, first overtaking Nico Varone, and then catching up with Sebastian Montoya, climbing to ninth place. His team closely followed the development of the strategy, as the tires used required a different approach to that of the competitors.
The climax came after a series of pit stops by the leaders. For a short time, Tsolov even led the column, before making his only pit stop on lap 24. After returning to the track, he joined the battle for places in the top ten.
In the final laps, the Bulgarian demonstrated a strong pace and managed to overtake Gabriele Mini. At the end of the race, he also took advantage of the problems of Joshua Dirksen, which allowed him to climb to seventh position and secure valuable championship points.
The victory in the main race was won by Noel Leon, who overtook Kush Maini and Rafael Camara. Nikola Tsolov crossed the finish in seventh place after an impressive five-place gain from his starting position.