CÂMARA TAKES BACK-TO-BACK POLE IN FORMULA 2 WITH INVICTA
Rafael Câmara secured pole position in qualifying at Barcelona, making it two consecutive Aramco Pole Positions. He led an Invicta Racing one-two, with his best lap of 1:24.810 putting him ahead of teammate Duerksen.
Qualifying began with Alexander Dunne setting the early pace for Rodin Motorsport with a 1:25.528. His time was quickly beaten as the track evolved and more drivers completed flying laps. Colton Herta briefly moved to the top with a 1:25.387 after showing strong pace earlier in the weekend during FP1 with Cadillac.
As the session developed, the top times changed several times in quick succession. Duerksen and Ritomo Miyata helped keep Hitech and Invicta near the front in the early stages, with only a few hundredths separating the leading runners after the first runs. After eight minutes, the top three were covered by just 0.056 seconds, showing how close the field was.
A large part of the field chose to wait before setting their first push laps. Nikola Tsolov then went fastest with a 1:25.222, but his time was soon challenged. Kush Maini came within a few hundredths, showing strong pace for his team, before Rafael Câmara delivered a decisive lap of 1:24.810. His time immediately created a gap of around four tenths to the rest of the field at the halfway point.
In the final minutes, improvements continued as drivers tried to find clean laps on a busy track. Rafael Villagómez moved up into second place for Van Amersfoort Racing, while Gabriele Minì improved shortly after and pushed Villagómez down the order. Alexander Dunne, whose earlier lap had been deleted for track limits, recovered to go second fastest and briefly sit just over two tenths behind Câmara.
However, the order changed again when Joshua Duerksen improved to secure an Invicta Racing one-two at the top of the standings, confirming strong team performance.
The session was then interrupted by a red flag after Ritomo Miyata spun off at the exit of the final corner, going through the gravel and into the barriers. The Japanese driver was able to exit the car safely, and the incident required track clearance before the session could resume. With just 3 minutes and 41 seconds remaining, qualifying restarted for a final short run to the flag.
Despite last-minute improvements from several drivers, no one was able to beat Câmara’s benchmark lap. He remained on top to take pole position ahead of teammate Duerksen. Dunne finished third, followed by Gabriele Minì in fourth and Villagómez in fifth.
Nikola Tsolov ended the session in sixth place, ahead of Nico Varrone, Colton Herta, Kush Maini, and Noel León, who completed the top ten.
The result sets up the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race, which will feature a reverse grid pole position for León.
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