Noel León won on Saturday (23) the Sprint race that opened the third round of the 2026 Formula 2 season, held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in Montreal, Canada. The ART Grand Prix driver showed fighting spirit throughout the 28 laps of the race, took the lead on the 18th lap, overtaking Gabriele Mini, and opened a gap to take the victory.
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Second place went to Mini, MP Motorsport driver who led most of the race but could not keep up with León’s pace after losing the lead. Martinius Stenshorne, with a Rodin Motorsport car, was third after Alexander Dunne, third on track, received a ten-second penalty for causing an accident.
Laurens van Hoepen, pole position for Sunday’s race, was fourth with a Trident car, while Emmo Fittipaldi, Brazilian defending AIX Racing, had his best result of the year finishing fifth, benefiting from another penalty, this one against Nikola Tsolov, who also had ten seconds added to his final race time.
Dino Beganvic crossed the finish line in sixth place with a DAMS car, followed by Rafael Câmara, seventh with Invicta Racing after starting 12th and dropping to 15th at the start. The points zone also included Roman Bilinski, from DAMS. Colton Herta, from Hitech, made a recovery race to finish ninth, followed by Oliver Goethe, from MP Motorsport.
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The race featured an incident on the tenth lap, when John Bennett spun with a Trident car after being touched by Martinius Stenshorne, who was battling position with Nikola Tsolov. The Safety Car was deployed moments later. On lap 18, Joshua Durksen, who had a penalty after contact with Noel León, spun when touched by Alexander Dunne, causing another neutralization.
On the 25th lap, Rafael Villagómez, who was in third position, hit the Van Amersfoort car into the wall and retired from the race, causing a Virtual Safety Car deployment. At the same time, Cian Shields collided with Nico Varrone’s car, who spun from the contact.
The race that closes the third round of the 2026 Formula 2 season will be held this Sunday (24), starting at 1 p.m.
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