Câmara overcomes chaos and red flag to win F2 Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race

Credit: Formula 2

Rafael Câmara's win from pole position seems deceptively simple, but doesn't tell the full story of this Formula 2 Feature Race at Cicuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

How it happened

After claiming pole position in Friday's qualifying session, Rafael Câmara started at the top of the grid alongside Tasanapol Intrhaphuvasak. At the start of the race it was Inthaphuvasak who got the better start, leading as Câmara dropped down to second.

Further down the field, one of yesterday's podium sitters Dino Beganovic stalled at the start, and had to be wheeled back to pit lane as Gabriele Minì and Roman Bilinski made contact at Turn 1.

The Safety Car was brought out to recover Oliver Goethe's car, who was also involved in the Turn 1 incident and stopped on track a few corners later. Meanwhile, Minì's title rival Nikola Tsolov had moved up from fourth to third place, sitting behind the leaders during the Safety Car as the driver who led the championship until Silverstone dropped down to the back of the field.

Inthraphuvasak led calmly at the restart as Tsolov challenged Câmara for second place. As Tsolov attempted the overtake he was forced over onto the gravel, which dropped him down to fifth place behind Joshua Dürksen.

Câmara stayed close behind the race leader and was able to make a move for the lead on Lap 5, regaining the position he lost at the start and relegating Inthraphuvasak back to second place again. Before the lap was over, Câmara pulled a 1.7 second gap, leaving Inthraphuvasak without the aid of DRS.

With Inthraphuvasak vulnerable, both Dürksen and Nico Varrone were also able to pass the Thai driver before he came in to make his pit stop on Lap 7 alongside a good chunk of the field, including Câmara and Alex Dunne.

On Lap 8, Trident driver Laurens Van Hoepen crashed at the exit of the Malmedy corner, hitting the wall and destroying the back of his car, which then caught fire. Van Hoepen was able to exit his car safely, but first the Safety Car and then, on Lap 10, the Red Flag was brought out to deal with the damage. Dürksen was sitting in the lead when the red flag came out, ahead of Varrone, John Bennett, Martinius Stenshorne and Kush Maini, all those drivers still yet to make their mandatory pit stop.

After a lengthy delay to clean up the track, the announcement was made that the race would resume at 10:48 local time. The drivers got back into their cars, went back out on track, and prepared for a rolling start this time. With just 22 minutes left on the clock to get as much of the race in as possible, drivers were ready to get going again.

Dürksen led Varrone at the restart and made quick work of pulling a gap of over one second. Further down the field, Noel Leon fought with Câmara for eighth place. Câmara was able to stay ahead and moved up to sixth place before the Safety Car was called out yet again with 16 minutes to go in the race as AIX Racing's Emerson Fittipaldi spun into the gravel.

During the Safety Car, the top drivers came in, completing the rest of the mandatory pit stops for the field. Câmara ended up back in the lead ahead of Dunne, Leon, Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov. The Safety Car was brought back in with 12 minutes to go, and Câmara led the field back to green.

As the leading driver on the super soft tyre after his pit stop under the Safety Car, Dürksen attempted a charge through the field, and was up several places to eighth with less than 10 minutes left in the race. Meanwhile, track limits were becoming an issue as both Leon and Colton Herta picked up 5 second time penalties for track limits. Dunne, sitting in second place, was the next driver to pick up a track limits penalty, meaning that both second and third place were open to Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov in fourth and fifth.

As the on-track action wound down in the closing stages, rain was reported on the circuit. But it wasn't long before the clock ran out and the final lap took place. Câmara was able to come home to secure his second F2 race win. Dunne crossed the finish line in second, but second place went to Inthraphuvasak who had gotten past Leon for third place on track.

Leon crossed the line third, but also dropped due to his time penalty, and Tsolov picked up another podium to extend his championship lead. Fourth place went to Dunne, and Minì, who was down at the back after his first lap incident, improved to finish fifth.

Rafael Villagomez took sixth place, and seventh place went to Leon after his penalty. Herta's penalty didn't affect him as he had pulled over a five second gap to his teammate Ritomo Miyata, and the pair finished in eighth and ninth. The final point of the day went to PREMA Racing's Mari Boya.

Full results can be found here.