F2: Kush Maini achieved his first victory of the season.

      The results of yesterday's Formula 2 qualifying in Barcelona were slightly adjusted when the stewards reviewed the violations committed by Joshua Dürksen and Ritomo Miyata, both of whom received penalties. The Paraguayan driver from Invicta Racing violated the yellow flag rule that was displayed on the track after Ritomo Miyata's crash, resulting in Dürksen being demoted five positions on the starting grid for both races of the weekend. Specifically, in today's sprint, he started in 14th place. The Japanese driver from Hitech was penalized for being the sole cause of the red flag stoppage during qualifying – his best time from that session was annulled. He had the 13th fastest time, so all drivers who were behind him in the qualifying results moved up one position, and Miyata will start last in both races.

      Starting from pole position in the Saturday sprint was Noel Leon, the Mexican driver from the Spanish team Campos Racing, so many fans in the stands at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were likely cheering for him. However, following Dürksen's penalty, the experienced Kush Maini started the race from the front row, known for his aggressive racing style, while Colton Herta's Dallara stood in third position, eager to make the most of this opportunity.

      However, he clearly lacked experience and immediately let Nikola Zlobov, Leon's teammate, pass him, while the Mexican driver was unable to maintain the lead as Maini made a perfect start. It is also worth noting Gabriele Mini's excellent start, who gained three positions right away and pushed Herta back to fifth place within a couple of laps.

      On the same second lap, Martinius Stenshorn knocked Dürksen off the track in the 11-12 corner sequence, with Joshua ending up on the gravel runoff, crossing it and returning to the track, but in last place. At the beginning of the fourth lap, Zlobov executed a great attack on Leon, overtaking him on the outside of the first corner and began chasing Maini, who had already extended his lead to three and a half seconds.

      The stewards' decision was revealed, issuing Stenshorn a 10-second penalty for the incident with Dürksen. On the 6th lap, Mini attacked Leon and pushed him back to 4th position, and now Noel was being attacked by Herta, but so far unsuccessfully, although he continued to stay almost right behind the white car with the number 5.

      The race was approaching its midpoint, the peloton was gradually stretching out, and there was no interesting racing on the track during this phase of the sprint, except for Dürksen trying to move forward, managing to overtake Kian Shields and climb to 20th position. But on the 14th lap, Colton Herta managed to pass Leon, gaining one position. There were more than ten laps left, and it was interesting to see if he would try to catch Mini, who was three and a half seconds ahead.

      On the 15th lap, Rafael Kamara attempted to attack his Mexican namesake, Rafael Villagomez – this was a battle for 6th position. But Villagomez did not give up and clearly pushed his opponent off the track, for which he immediately received a 10-second penalty. Kamara managed to finish the job and was now in sixth place.

      Meanwhile, Villagomez was attacked by Dino Beganovic and was also overtaken, followed by Alex Dunn doing the same, giving the Brit hope to earn at least one championship point from the sprint. With five laps to go, the points contenders were leader Kush Maini, with Nikola Zlobov five and a half seconds behind him, closely pursued by Gabriele Mini – and on the 22nd lap, the championship leader began to actively pressure the Bulgarian driver, but he was still managing to hold his position.

      Further down the track were Herta, Leon, Kamara, Beganovic, and Dunn. In the final laps, events took a very interesting turn: Mini successfully attacked Zlobov, and then Colton Herta overtook Nikola as well, with the pass he made in the 7th corner being simply brilliant!

      It seemed the American was getting into the groove; he was not satisfied with just climbing onto the podium from the sprint, and on the penultimate lap, he almost caught Mini, while Zlobov was preparing to attack Leon. On the penultimate lap, Colton made a decisive attack on Mini, which was unsuccessful, but then, on the last lap, he made a frustrating mistake, locked up the brakes, lost control on the track, and at that moment let both Zlobov and Leon pass him. Unfortunately, the podium was missed, but Herta still showed fighting spirit and battled until the end. Moreover, he honestly admitted over the radio that it was his mistake, which he called "unacceptable."

      Meanwhile, the race ended, and Kush Maini won the sprint, finishing ahead of Gabriele Mini by more than seven seconds. However, this did not upset the championship leader too much, as he at least slightly increased his lead in the championship standings, which had been reduced to just one point after the Monaco round. Nikola Zlobov finished in third place, which he was quite satisfied with, as he had not even expected to be on the podium, and if Herta had not overdone it, he would have finished only fourth.

      After the sprint, Mini leads the championship standings, ahead of Zlobov by three points, while Leon trails the Bulgarian by 18 points. But the competition is very tight, and the balance of power is likely to change after tomorrow's race. Results are being prepared…