The Mexican driver fought back from a difficult start and came back past several rivals before controlling a late Safety Car restart for the victory.
Gabriele Minì and Martinius Stenshorne completed the podium for MP Motorsport and Rodin Motorsport respectively.
AS IT HAPPENED
Pole sitter Minì got a great start to retain the lead, and León claimed second into Turn 1. Joshua Duerksen also enjoyed a strong start from fifth but made slight contact with the Campos Racing driver at the second corner.
The Paraguayan was ultimately able to take the place ahead into Turn 3 but was later handed a five-second time penalty for the contact.
With DRS enabled, León then forced Duerksen to defend into the final chicane entering Lap 3, and with a skip across the chicane for the Invicta Racing driver, the Mexican retook P2.
Onto Lap 4 and Duerksen repaid the favour, making a DRS pass of his own into the final corners, but their battling allowed Minì to escape several seconds up the road in the lead.
Lap 6 and Nikola Tsolov made a late dive on Nico Varrone into Turn 10 to take seventh position.
Having followed in the wheel tracks for several laps, León set up a switchback out of the final corner to move back ahead of Duerksen and up into second across the line on Lap 8.
Tsolov lined up a pass again into the Turn 10 hairpin but contact with Stenshorne sent the Rodin Motorsport driver into John Bennett, who went spinning down the order as a result. It brought out the Safety Car with the TRIDENT driver stationary on track. The Bulgarian driver was later handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
The Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 14 and Minì opted to go late but León stuck with the MP driver, forcing him to defend the lead into Turn 1, with the Italian retaining P1.
Duerksen had been chasing León, but an opportunistic move by Villagómez into Turn 10 gave the VAR driver P3. The Invicta fought back past, but went across the final chicane too, and eventually handed the place back on Lap 16.
Stenshorne followed Villagómez’s example and produced a dive to the inside of Duerksen at Turn 10 to take fourth place before the end of the lap.
One lap later and Tsolov attempted his own pass on Duerksen into Turn 10 to take fifth position, and he sealed the place on the entry to the final chicane.
Lap 18 and there was more action at Turn 10 as Duerksen was pitched into a spin by Alexander Dunne. Up ahead, León made a pass on Minì into the last corners to take the lead of the race.
The Safety Car was then deployed for the second time with Duerksen stranded at Turn 10 following the contact with Dunne, and the Irishman was awarded a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
Racing resumed on Lap 22, and León decided to bolt ahead of the final chicane to build a buffer over the chasing pack.
Dunne received his penalty news over the team radio on the first lap back racing but made a pass on Tsolov for fifth on the road at Turn 5.
Stenshorne got a great run out of the final corner on Lap 24 and went side-by-side with Villagómez into the first corner but ran wide and skipped across Turn 2.
(Turn 10 proved to be the biggest action zone around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Sprint Race)
The Rodin rejoined but lost a spot to teammate Dunne in the process, while Villagómez’s race was over soon after in a separate incident, as he tagged the wall at Turn 4 to sustain race-ending damage. The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to recover his car and debris left on track.
The VSC was withdrawn on Lap 27, with León’s lead at almost four seconds over Minì, who had Dunne catching him heading onto the final lap.
Nobody could catch León, who claimed his maiden win in F2 in comfortable fashion, while a DRS pass for Dunne gave the Irishman P2 on the road, though Minì took that place back with the Rodin driver’s penalty. Stenshorne completed the podium in third.
TRIDENT’s Laurens van Hoepen wound up fourth as Emerson Fittipaldi took P5 and his best finish in the Championship for AIX Racing. Dino Beganovic, Rafael Câmara and Roman Bilinski completed the points down to eighth.
KEY QUOTE – Noel León, Campos Racing
“Winners! Very good race and I’m very happy with the car, with the team and what an amazing job they’ve been doing. Just super happy with this first win.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Gabriele Minì takes over the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 42 points, six clear of second-placed Rafael Câmara. Nikola Tsolov is now third on 35 points, while Noel León moves himself up to fourth with his win to climb onto 32 points. Laurens van Hoepen rounds out the top five on 31.
In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing lead on 67 points with MP Motorsport second with 54. Invicta Racing follow in third with 52, while Hitech and TRIDENT complete the top five with 32 and 31 points.
UP NEXT
The FIA Formula 2 Feature Race is set to go green at 12:05 local time on Sunday. Who will take the top step of the podium in Round 3?
