Formula 2 wrapped up the final leg of its inaugural North American ‘tour’ in style with Martinius Stenshorne claiming a significant race victory in Canada.
The Rodin Motorsport driver sailed to victory despite yet another wet-weather race in 2026. Closely behind him was his team-mate Alex Dunne and Gabriele Mini, who rounded out F2’s final 2026 podium in North America. The pair were locked in an intense battle for the final steps. However, they managed to keep it clean to reach the chequered flag.
As the drivers lined up on the grid for the formation lap, there were 21 cars instead of 22, as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak withdrew from this round. The Thai driver faced a major collision during qualifying and opted to watch from the sidelines this weekend.
Elsewhere in the field, it was Laurens Van Hoepen and Tsolov who lined up on the front row. After losing the championship lead to Gabriele Mini yesterday, Tsolov was eager to outscore his rivals to reclaim the lead early in the season.
Lights out for one last time in America
As the lights went out for the final time this weekend, Tsolov had the better start of the front row, challenging Van Hoepen into Turn 1. As the pair exited the corner, the Bulgarian driver was leading the field. However, this didn’t last long with the Trident driver returning the move on the entry to turn 2.
Behind the leading pair, the wet conditions proved difficult for several drivers as the field searched for grip around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. By Lap 3, Tsolov had used the DRS to close back up to Van Hoepen, sitting just 0.4s behind heading down the back straight.
Further down the field, Câmara, who lost places at the beginning of the race, began to move back forward. The reigning F3 champion swept past Gabriele Mini for seventh.
The intense battle at the front of the field came to an abrupt end early in the session, with Van Hoepen out of the race. The TRIDENT driver hit the infamous ‘Wall of Champions, ‘ taking himself out, in turn, bringing out the Safety Car early in the race.
Teams could take the option to pit their drivers; most stayed out. Tsolov informed the Campos team that his tyres were still in good condition.
Safety Car chaos shakes up the order
Racing resumed on Lap 7, but the green flag period lasted seconds. Tsolov controlled the restart well before Emerson Fittipaldi lost control exiting the pit lane after switching tyres, sliding straight into the grass and immediately bringing out another Safety Car.
This second intervention set the pit lane alight, with nearly every driver on track coming in to serve their mandatory pitstop of the feature race. However, there were a few drivers on the alternative strategy who decided to stay out. Roman Bilinski, Nicola Varrone, Colton Herta, Kush Maini and Mari Boya, all of whom had started on soft tyres stayed out.
However, as the Safety Car period got longer, Varrone later boxed under the Safety Car, altering the strategic picture once again.
When the Safety Car peeled away on Lap 12, Bilinski timed the restart perfectly to remain ahead of Herta. Behind them, Tsolov attempted to pressure Boya into Turn 2, but the PREMA driver aggressively defended his position. Stenshorne capitalised on this battle, making his way past the pair and placing himself in the net-race lead.
This move was the start of Stenshorne’s immense charge forward. The Norwegian soon made a bold move on Maini into the hairpin. Promoting him to third on the road, still in the net race lead.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for everyone. Disaster struck for Nikola Tsolov, who made contact with Maini on Lap 16. This cost the Bulgarian crucial places and valuable momentum. Something needed to reclaim the Championship lead from Mini.
The chaos intensified further on Lap 18 when contact between Camara and Rafael Villagomez resulted in damage for both drivers. This also triggered a Virtual Safety Car as Villagomez was stranded on the side of the road.
Moments later, Dino Beganovic capitalised on Camara running wide at Turn 14 to snatch position. Meanwhile, race leader Bilinski slid off at the hairpin as conditions seemed to worsen. Stenshorne swept into the lead, Herta moved into second, and Bilinski tumbled backwards rapidly as grip disappeared around the circuit.
Late race drama determines result
As the race began to settle down, Camara went for an advantageous move whilst challenging for fifth place during Lap 23. Despite his championship-winning talent, the Brazilian was unable to properly execute the move, spinning himself around and forcing himself to retire from the race prematurely.
Moments later, Beganovic began suffering severe mechanical issues, smoke pouring from the car as his pace dropped alarmingly. Bilinski’s struggles also continued as he was swallowed up by multiple cars and dropped to fifth.
Further behind, Dunne and Minì produced yet another intriguing battle of the race. Dunne passed the Italian into the final chicane on Lap 25, only for Minì to immediately reclaim the place at Turn 13 while the Irishman remained glued to his gearbox.
Dunne managed to make his way past the Championship leader, setting his sights on his team-mate ahead.
On Lap 26, Camara received a five-second time penalty after his earlier incident. Over team radio, the Brazilian questioned why he was still being kept in the race despite returning to the pits, only for his engineer to insist the penalty needed serving immediately rather than carrying over to Monaco. So Camara went back on track to finish the race and serve his five-second penalty, albeit three laps down on the leaders.
That same lap, the Safety Car was brought out when Beganovic’s wounded car finally gave up completely. Causing the Hitech driver to stop on the track,
Final laps under the Safety Car
Importantly, the late race neutralisation massively benefitted Tsolov, whose podium hopes had looked slim only laps earlier. Meanwhile, Boya compounded PREMA’s difficult afternoon by locking up behind the Safety Car and falling to the back of the field.
With only minutes remaining, the running order stood as Stenshorne ahead of Dunne, Minì, Maini, Joshua Dürksen, Tsolov, Montoya, Cian Shields, Varrone and Ollie Goethe.
Once racing resumed, Stenshorne delivered a flawless restart and immediately escaped into the distance, leaving his team-mate to fend for himself against Mini.
Close behind, Tsolov quickly piled pressure onto Durksen as the race timer replaced the lap count following the lengthy interruptions.
Yet another Safety Car ended any hopes of a last-lap showdown after Goethe and Miyata collided at the hairpin with less than three minutes remaining, eliminating both drivers on the spot.
The race therefore finished under Safety Car conditions, sealing a historic 1-2 finish for Rodin Motorsport, the team’s first since competing under its new name. This performance from Stenshorne and Dunne was crucial following the team’s last race weekend, which featured a double DNF.
Gabriele Mini rounded out the podium in Canada. The MP Motorsport driver secured a double podium finish in Canada and strengthened his newfound championship lead.
Formula 2 will return during the coveted Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
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