Câmara takes F2 pole once again in mixed conditions in Spa qualifying
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Invicta's Rafa Câmara capitalised on changing conditions and a one-lap shootout at the end to snatch pole for Formula 2's weekend in Spa. He would do so by only 39 milliseconds, ahead of ART's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, while Rodin's Alex Dunne continued his top three qualifying run in 2026,
Championship leader Nikola Tsolov finished fourth, while Trident's John Bennett netted a best qualifying result in fifth. DAMS racers Dino Beganovic and Roman Bilinski secured sixth and eighth, splitting Câmara's teammate Joshua Dürksen in seventh.
It was Martinius Stenshorne and Noel León rounding out the top 10, with the latter under investigation for being the cause of a red flag during the session.
León is expected to start on reverse grid pole for the Saturday sprint race, should he keep his quickest time of the session. A close session, and here's how everything unfolded around the Red Bull Ring.
AS IT HAPPENED: F2 Qualifying in Spa
With rain constantly lurking in the shadows, F2 qualifying at the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was set to be an interesting affair. Could Nikola Tsolov convert his practice pace into further points - and continue his red hot form? It remained to be seen ahead of 30 minutes of qualifying.
Even if the track remained dry, drivers were expected to face the challenge of holding on to the supersoft tyre over the course of seven kilometres around the Ardennes forest.
However, with rain hitting Formula 3 qualifying earlier in the day, it was a quick scramble for the teams to put on tyres ahead of F2 qualifying.
Despite spits of rain at the circuit, drivers opted to head out on the super soft tyres, in a bid to extract more grip on a wetter track. It would be a wiser move, with Rafa Câmara's engineer reporting that the worst of the rain period had passed, and they were facing a dry track in only five to 10 minutes.
Even as the drivers set off on their flying laps, an early red flag would be called out. Tsolov's teammate Noel León briefly stopped on track after clipping the kerb at Raidillon corner and spinning. While he stopped on the track, the Mexican attempted to reverse out of his issues, before getting his Campos going once again.
After a brief halt, green flag running resumed once again at Spa, with León among the first drivers out on track to set their laps. The Mexican would set a 1:58.657, but would be immediately eclipsed by both Câmara and Tsolov.
However, Rodin's Alex Dunne, the pole-sitter at this venue in 2025, was on a better lap compared to the rest. The Irishman continued his rocketing pace around Spa, setting a 1:57.124 on the first flying lap. While already quicker than his pole time from last season, Dunne held a stellar margin of 0.265 seconds to championship leader Tsolov.
The Invicta pair of Câmara and Dürksen would go on for a second push lap, though, as would others lower down the grid. The former would improve to second, only marginally ahead of Tsolov's time.
Others who found improvements on their first lap included DAMS' Dino Beganovic, who rose up to sixth, while the Alpine pairing of Kush Maini and Gabriele Minì climbed up to fifth and seventh.
At the halfway mark, it was still Dunne leading the way by a significant margin to Câmara and Tsolov, with Ollie Goethe holding fourth ahead of Maini in the top five.
Heading onto the all-crucial second runs, the final 10 minutes would see a flurry of activity, with drivers itching to make the best out of a much drier circuit.
With drivers looking to get a tow around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, none of the drivers wanted to be the first one to lead the way. Instead, they all trundled through the pits, rather than setting off on their flying laps.
Once again, it was León the first to set off on his final lap first. However, once again, a yellow flag would halt the session, before this became the second red flag of the session, with three minutes and 25 seconds to go in the session.
This was for the stricken Trident of Laurens van Hoepen, running eighth in the session, who had stopped on the main straight, right after the Bus Stop chicane.
Despite the double waved yellows in the final sector, León had put himself fourth, sitting nearly four tenths of Dunne's leading lap time. This would only be a fleeting moment though, as the Campos man lost his lap time, dropping down to 17th.
Green flag running would resume again at 16:32 local time, with drivers setting off for their final laps this time around. It was a rush to get to the line in time to start their flying laps, as drivers looked to get themselves ahead in the queue to start their laps.
Now running in the slipstream, several drivers gained time in the first sector. Eventually, the times would tumble, with the likes of León and Tsolov heading to the top, before being dropped by Câmara, who surged to pole once again with a 1:56.306.
Dunne wouldn't be able to repeat his stellar heroics from last season, climbing up to third, with ART's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak securing second, only 39 milliseconds away from the pole time set by the Brazilian.
Among the biggest losers in qualifying was Minì, who had slid down to 17th in the order as the drivers scrambled to set their laps. He would have his task cut out come Sunday, and here's how it panned out after an exciting end to qualifying in Spa!
Classification - F2 qualifying in Spa
Rafa Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
John Bennett (Trident)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Noel León (Campos Racing)*
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Nicolás Varrone (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)*
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
*- Under investigation for sole cause of red flag during the session
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