‘It was much more than a win’ says Tsolov after comeback to second in Baku Feature Race 2

Nikola Tsolov says his and Campos Racing’s fightback over the course of the Baku weekend is something he will carry for the rest of his life.

The Bulgarian driver and his team struggled for much of Round 12, finishing fifth in the Sprint Race, before losing the lead of the championship for the first time in Feature Race 1.

But Tsolov and Campos recovered on Saturday, going from 11th to second in Feature Race 2, and speaking at the end of the weekend, he admitted that it’s a result that will live long in his memory.

“It's a really positive day,” he said. “I think more so than just the good result, I think the way we managed to bounce back.

“From being almost the slowest in the Sprint Race to being the quickest today just shows our spirit and how we worked within the team to turn around things.

“For me it's important that we never gave up and this is just a test of life that we managed to pass, and this is only going to make us a lot stronger.

“I think having managed to overcome this and still work in the right direction with the team is something that we can take on to the rest of the year and really come back much stronger.”

Feature Race 2 did not get off to the best of starts for Tsolov, as he was stuck in the midfield for much of the first stint in P10.

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But an inspired strategy call from the Bulgarian and his team to stay out longer in the first stint despite two Virtual Safety Cars saw him come back out in P5.

“The tyres felt good all the way through,” he said. “Then with the VSCs I managed to cool them down a little bit and that really helped the Supersoft to stay in the good window.

“The pace was just strong, so we managed to pull the gap that we lost out to people who pitted before the VSC. I was to be quite surprised when we went out pretty far ahead and I got told that we were virtually P5 when I came out of the pit.

“I was surprised and really happy to hear. From then on, we were just taking it step-by-step, lap-by-lap and I was really in my own race, in my own tunnel let's say.”

Tsolov overtook Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne to get up to third and chased down Câmara and Alexander Dunne in the closing stages – getting to within DRS range of the former.

Talking about his mindset in the final few laps, the Campos driver says there was not a lot on his mind at the time.

“There was no thought process of what was going on ahead,” he said. “It was more about what I could do in driving to make the best out of the situation.

“So I was just thinking how to manage the tyres by going as quick as I can, really focusing on what I was doing. I actually don't remember most of the race because I was really in the tunnel, really focused, and you don't think about anything.”

Despite losing the championship lead for the first time since Silverstone, Tsolov views his Baku weekend as a positive, given the fighting spirit shown by him and Campos.

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“It was much more than a win,” he added. “I think this is something that I can take on for the rest of my life and I think everyone in the team can as well.

“It’s really inspiring to see what we were able to do and how quick we turned things around and the fact that we never gave up, so this is more than a win for sure.”