Câmara takes third F2 pole from Dunne after exciting Silverstone qualifying
- Vyas Ponnuri
- Jul 3
- 3 min read
An excellent lap in qualifying by Invicta's Rafa Câmara saw him take a third Formula 2 pole position for the Silverstone weekend. He took the honours in F2 qualifying by two tenths of a second from the Alpine juniors Alex Dunne and ART's Kush Maini, with the likes of DAMS' Roman Bilinski and Austria winner Nikola Tsolov rounding out the top five in qualifying.
Further back, it was a strong lap from Maini's teammate Tasanapol Inthraphvasak that saw him secure sixth on the road, ahead of Joshua Dürksen in seventh, as the likes of Rafael Villagómez, Ritomo Miyata and championship leader Gabriele Minì rounded out the top 10 around Silverstone.
Minì will start the Saturday sprint at the front of the field. An exciting qualifying session, and here's how it all unfolded in the British race weekend of the season.
AS IT UNFOLDED: F2 Qualifying around Silverstone
It was Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne who had topped the sole practice session around the circuit, ahead of Ferrari juniors Rafa Câmara and Dino Beganovic.
With the track temperature at 45 degrees Celsius, drivers would definitely find it a challenge to keep optimum grip in their tyres over the course of a single flying lap.
Early doors, it would be the PREMA duo of Sebastián Montoya and Mari Boya at the top, however, they would be eclipsed by several drivers, first by Gabriele Minì and then by the DAMS duo of Beganovic and Roman Bilinski.
The Polish driver's stay at the top would be brief, with Kush Maini roaring past his benchmark into the 1:40s, stopping the clocks the quickest at a 1:40.764, with teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak following in his teammate's tracks and sitting third.
However, the VAR duo of Rafael Villagómez and Nico Varrone would slot themselves into second and third, early doors, showing promising signs early in the session.
A setback for Irishman Dunne would see him lose his best lap time for track limits, as he skipped over the edge of the track at Turn 13, while Hitech's Colton Herta went out much further into the session, having sat in the pit lane early on.
However, you can never count out the duo of Dunne and Câmara in any qualifying session in 2026. On their next round of flying laps, the Rodin man would move the benchmark much further, at a 1:40.536, while the Brazilian put himself into third, with normal service resuming.
Herta's first flying lap was marred by several slower-moving cars as they all looked to return to the pits, with the American driver posting the 15th quickest time in the first half of the session.
At the halfway mark, it was Dunne leading the charts from fellow Alpine junior Maini, ahead of Câmara's Invicta, with the two VAR cars of Villagómez and Varrone rounding out the top five.
However, as the fuel loads dropped off, several drivers would find themselves more comfortable on the soft tyres. With the final 10 minutes to go, the F2 grid set themselves up for a final run around the iconic Silverstone circuit, with a massive pole position up for grabs.
Early into their laps, several drivers set the timing sheets alight, with the likes of Nikola Tsolov, Ollie Goethe and Minì all going quick. However, among the biggest surprises was Boya, the PREMA man impressing initially, before Tsolov wrested back the top spot by almost four tenths of a second.
However, this was before the big hitters returned to the front, with Maini first lowering the bar to a 1:39.892, ahead of Bilinski in second. Meanwhile, Câmara's stellar lap of 1:39.690 put him over two tenths quicker, while Dunne slotted himself into second, one millisecond ahead of Maini.
That would be the best of it all through the session, with Tsolov remarking his lap was the best he was able to post, as the drivers returned to the pits with time to go. No one would challenge the top three, with Câmara leaving the session with a third F2 pole in 2026.
At the end of it all, here's how it stacked up!
Classification - F2 Qualifying: Silverstone
Rafa Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
John Bennett (Trident)
Nicolás Varrone (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
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