Câmara takes F2 pole in Monaco after rollercoaster session
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Rafael Câmara took pole in F2 qualifying on the streets of Monaco, after an excellent qualifying performance on the streets of Monaco, edging out Group A topper Nikola Tsolov by 0.130 seconds, with Alex Dunne nailing third on the road.
He was followed by teammate Martinius Stenshorne in fourth, with Dino Beganovic rounding out the top five. ART's Kush Maini was sixth, followed by Gabriele Minì in seventh, with Roman Bilinski, Noel León and Joshua Dürksen rounding out the top 10 in qualifying for the pair of Monaco's races.
As always, F2's qualifying session took place in two groups, with drivers split into Group A and B based on their car numbers. The driver setting the quickest time in the session would see his group starting on the odd numbered side of the grid, with the other group's drivers on the even side of the grid.
Group B
The first set of qualifying runs saw all the odd-numbered cars get out onto the track for 16 minutes to set the grid order. Within this group included the likes of championship leader Gabriele Minì, Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic, Invicta's Rafa Câmara and 2025 pole-sitter Alex Dunne.
With only 16 minutes to set a lap time, drivers opted for the favourable path of staying out on track all through the session, rather than pitting and switching onto a new set of tyres.
Câmara, who emerged at the front of the queue of 11 cars, was the first to set off on his flying lap. A clear track at the front would certainly be key on the streets of Monaco — 2025 pole sitter Dunne proved fastest in his group by over half a second, benefitting from nobody ahead of him to take home the quickest lap time.
The Brazilian, though, went deep into the final corner, clouting the barrier and damaging his suspension as he made his way to the line. It was Dunne who set the benchmark time though, with a 1:22.427 that was almost two seconds quicker than the Invicta man.
Elsewhere, Campos driver Noel León looked to be on a quick lap, but encountered a slow-moving Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at the Swimming Pool chicane. Dunne had set a fastest second sector, but going deep into the Rascasse corner cost him a shot at going top of the timesheets then.
This spot was instead snatched by Beganovic, with Minì slotting into second ahead of Dunne as the clock ticked down. Drivers were having trouble around the streets of Monaco, with Sebastián Montoya locking up into Mirabeau corner and going deep.
However, with just under four minutes to go, the red flag was called out for a stricken Trident of John Bennett. The Briton had locked up going into Turn 1, scampering across the kerb before going straight on into the barriers. This shunt brought an end to his qualifying in Monaco.
The interruption gave Invicta more time to repair Câmara's car and keep him in the session, with the team later bringing his car out into the pit box and ready to head out. He was the first to head out onto the track, once again giving himself the best chance to improve on his session time.
As qualifying resumed in Monaco, the battle for the top spot was only expected to grow, as drivers fancied a piece of the glory on offer. While his first flying lap did not inspire much of a turnaround, it was the crucial second lap in a row that saw Câmara catapult his way to the top of the standings, by a tenth of a second from Dunne and Beganovic.
Championship leader Minì would only start from the fourth row of the grid, but was under investigation for a pit lane infringement.
Group A
After an exciting conclusion to Group B's qualifying, much hype would prevail for the following group's qualifying. Once again, several big hitters would be in play, including Campos' stalwart Nikola Tsolov, Trident's Laurens van Hoepen, Rodin Motorsport's Martinius Stenshorne and the other Invicta of Joshua Dürksen.
It would also remain to be seen if the drivers would benefit from the extra rubber laid down on the track, and the knowledge of the time to beat, rather than going out and setting the quickest time to chase.
As was the case with Group A, it was the Invicta which got out onto the track first, ahead of the Trident. However, any optimism built up for the latter would be extinguished, with ART's Kush Maini clouting the rear of van Hoepen's Trident at the Nouvelle chicane, looking to gain track position and clear air ahead.
With the Dutch driver spun around and beached on the kerb, the red flag was called out to recover the stricken Trident.
Once racing resumed, it was the VAR of Nico Varrone who set the quickest time of 1:23.441, which was bettered by Tsolov's 1:23.096. Colton Herta would better this time by four tenths of a second in his first-ever Monaco qualifying, but drivers were pushing hard further behind.
In fact, it was Maini who would go on to set a 1:21.405, holding a margin of over a quarter of a second to Tsolov and MP Motorsport's Ollie Goethe.
Maini would better his benchmark by 67 milliseconds, however, the focus would soon shift to Tsolov, as he set the quickest second sector of the session. He would end up one millisecond behind the Indian driver's time.
However, despite neither of these times being close to Câmara's 1:20.923, the stakes were still high, with a front row spot up for grabs. Stenshorne would come clutch at the death, stealing the fastest time in the group.
Tsolov, though, would set an even quicker time of 1:21.053, and secure a front row spot for the Feature Race on Sunday. The final big change in the order would be DAMS' Roman Bilinski, who secured a fourth row start for the race alongside Minì.
Classification - F2 qualifying in Monaco
Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Nicolás Varrone (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
John Bennett (Trident)*
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
*Under investigation for being the sole cause of red flag in qualifying
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