"Bulgarian Lion" Nikola Tsolov claims third season triumph in Formula 2 in Monaco

"Nikola Tsolov" recorded his third win of the season in "Formula 2" after triumphing in the feature race on the legendary streets of "Monaco". This is also the third consecutive year in which the Bulgarian wins in the Principality – in 2024 he triumphed in the sprint race, and in 2025 in the feature race in "Formula 3".

The "Bulgarian Lion" started from second place on the grid and in the first phase of the race maintained his position before the pit stops. At this stage "Tsolov" was running right behind the leader "Rafael Camara", with the battle for first place effectively being decided by the pit‑stop strategies.

The "Campos" driver and his team made their move at the end of lap 32 out of a total of 42, when the "Bulgarian Lion" switched from soft to "super‑soft" tyres. Just one lap later "Camara" covered the Bulgarian’s pit stop, but upon rejoining the track the Brazilian showed extremely low pace.

This allowed "Tsolov" to attack already into the first corner at the start of lap 34. In an attempt to defend, "Camara" locked his front right tyre and went straight into the run‑off area, thus retiring from the race. Fortunately, there was no contact between the two and the "Bulgarian Lion" continued, taking over the virtual lead behind drivers who still had to stop in the pits.

In practice, "Tsolov" moved into the actual lead only at the beginning of the final lap, when "Kush Maini" made his mandatory pit stop. Crossing the finish line, the Bulgarian driver secured a convincing victory with a gap of exactly 9.0 seconds ahead of "Alex Dunne". The podium was completed by "Dino Beganovic", who finished third, 26.4 seconds behind the winner, after managing to overtake "Maini" at the chicane after the tunnel on the final lap.

The Swede, however, achieved this by going beyond the track limits, as did "Maini" himself, who finished fourth and thus effectively "neutralised" the infringement of "Beganovic".

"Martinius Stenshorne" took the chequered flag in fifth place, followed by "Ritomo Miyata", "Emerson Fittipaldi", "Sebastian Montoya", "Noel León" and "Roman Bilinski", who completed the points‑scoring positions. In addition to the victory, "Tsolov" added the point for the "fastest lap", which he set on "super‑soft" tyres on lap 37 with a time of 1:22.444.

With today’s success, "Nikola Tsolov" climbs to second place in the overall "Formula 2" standings after the first four rounds of the 2026 season. The "Bulgarian Lion" now has 52 points to his name and is only one point behind the leader "Gabriele Minì", who finished 11th in the feature race in the Principality.

The 2026 "Formula 2" season continues in just a week’s time with the race weekend at the "Catalunya" circuit near "Barcelona", where the battle for the title promises to become even more intense.