F2 driver Laurens van Hoepen finished second in the sprint race in Miami! The Dutchman had already qualified ninth on Friday. By reversing the top ten, he was allowed to start from the front row during the race on Saturday, alongside championship leader Nikola Tsolov. After a sensational battle with the Bulgarian, in which Van Hoepen briefly had a chance to win, he ultimately crossed the finish line in second place. Alex Dunne completed the podium.
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The starting grid was already shaken up before the race when polesitter Kush Maini stalled during the formation lap and lost his position. At the start, Tsolov got away well from the clean side and maintained the lead, with Van Hoepen right behind him. The Dutchman had to briefly give up his second place to Joshua Dürksen but quickly fought back and regained his position. At the front, a leading group of five drivers formed, in which Van Hoepen made a strong impression and kept the pace high.
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Midway through the race, it became clear that Van Hoepen had more speed than his competitors. With the help of DRS, he took the lead on lap thirteen, after which he and Tsolov became involved in a sensational duel. Van Hoepen deliberately chose to sometimes stay behind Tsolov to gain a strategic advantage from DRS towards the final phase. That approach seemed to work, but the 20-year-old Dutchman launched his decisive attack just a bit too early. Tsolov struck back in the last DRS zone and took the victory by a tiny margin of one tenth of a second.
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