Finlay McSporran
Published: 16:55 26 July 2026
The Mexican worked hard to hold off Maini and Camara to take his maiden feature race win.
Race Report
Leon started from third on the grid, but quickly got up to second as Rafael Camara struggled to get away from the front row.
The race settled down for a while after that, with Maini extending his lead in front, while Leon and Camara battled for second.
The top three were all on the soft tyres, which were surprisingly durable, with many soft runners choosing to extend the stint.
Leon was the first of the top three to pit, coming in on lap 17 of 37.
The race win seemed unlikely now, as Maini was now five seconds ahead.
However, as Leon trundled down the pit lane towards his crew, the Van Amersfoort of Rafael Villagomez pulled over at the side of the track to retire.
The virtual safety car was deployed. Whilst Leon was getting his tyres changed, everyone else on track had to slow down to allow Villagomez’s car to be recovered.
The VSC was withdrawn a lap later with racing resuming on lap 18.
Camara pitted two laps later, and was six seconds behind Leon with Maini still to box.
The Indian driver came in on lap 22, and as he re-joined the track, he saw Leon disappear into turn one to take the net race lead. Furthermore, the hard tyre runners of Fittipaldi and Goethe also beat him to the first corner, which gave Leon some breathing space.
Meanwhile, Championship leader Nikola Tsolov made a symbolic pass on his title rival Gabrielle Mini for ninth, as he tried to make the alternative stratgey work.
Despite the setbacks, Maini continued to chase down Leon, and was within DRS range with five laps to go. He was also bringing Camara with him in the DRS, making it a three-way battle for the lead.
The top three were separated by just 1.2 seconds as they crossed the line, with Leon holding on to first place in the end.
Maini had to settle for second in the end, with Camara taking an important podium, as he tries to keep himself in the title race.
The man ahead of him in the standings, Mini, took two points with ninth, while Tsolov finished seventh in the end to extend his title lead to twenty points with five rounds still to go (assuming the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi still go ahead).
Race winner, Noel Leon said: “Super happy with this one. It’s been a good weekend for us, but now it’s time to rest. This is the best way to go into the break. Thank you all for your amazing support, and we’ll keep pushing.”
Feature Race Results:
| Position | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Noel Leon | Campos | |
| 2. | Kush Maini | ART | +0.8 |
| 3. | Rafa Camara | Invicta | +1.3 |
| 4. | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | +4.9 |
| 5. | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | ART | +9.4 |
| 6. | Dino Beganovic | Dams | +12.5 |
| 7. | Nikola Tsolov | Campos | +13.3 |
| 8. | Joshua Duerkson | Invicta | +17.3 |
| 9. | Gabriele Mini | MP Motorsport | +19.0 |
| 10. | John Bennett | Trident | +23.9 |
| 11. | Alex Dunne | Rodin | +24.3 |
| 12. | Nicola Varrone | Van Amersfoort | +38.6 |
| 13. | Ritomo Miyata | Hitech | +39.2 |
| 14. | Roman Bilinski | Dams | +39.4 |
| 15. | Mari Boya | Prema | +48.9 |
| 16. | Sebastian Montoya | Prema | +49.2 |
| 17. | Emmerson Fittipaldi | AIX | +50.3 |
| 18. | Ollie Goethe | MP Motorsport | +50.8 |
| 19. | Colton Herta | Hitech | +55.4 |
| 20. | Cian Shields | AIX | +59.9 |
| 21. | Martinius Stenshorne | Rodin | + 2 Laps |
| 22. | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort | DNF |
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