Câmara takes Feature Race 2 victory from Tsolov after intense last laps
Invicta's Rafa Câmara took victory in Baku's Feature Race 2, after an exciting 29 laps of racing in the Azerbaijan capital. He won by a margin of less than a seconds, with Campos' Nikola Tsolov and Rodin's Alex Dunne rounding out the top three, to cap off Formula 2's longest weekend of the year.
Dunne led the race for most of it, but faced a setback due to a five-second time penalty for crossing the line at the pit entry. This cost him a race victory, but he managed to finish on the podium alongside his championship contenders. Martinius Stenshorne came home fourth, unable to convert pole to victory.
Trident's Laurens van Hoepen and PREMA Racing's Mari Boya came home fifth and sixth, having shown excellent grit all through the second Feature Race. van Hoepen and Boya held on from DAMS' Dino Beganovic, with Noel León, Gabriele Minì and Roman Bilinski rounding out the top 10 in Baku.
The championship picture that had changed significantly since the start of the weekend, saw Câmara now continue to hold on to his lead, with Tsolov seven points behind, and Dunne sitting 18 points off the championship lead.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Feature Race 2 at Baku
Alex Dunne's Feature Race 1 victory and Rafa Câmara's last-gasp overtake on Noel León's Campos had already turned the championship standings on its head. The Brazilian had taken over the lead of the standings by one point, with Nikola Tsolov's non-finish seeing him relinquish his championship lead.
The Bulgarian driver's day only got worse, with his five-second penalty for crossing the line at the entry to the pits converted into a three-place grid drop for the Feature Race 2. As a result, he started 11th for Saturday's race.
Dunne, meanwhile, started second on the grid, only eight points adrift of the championship leader now. He started on the other side of the grid this time, with Martinius Stenshorne taking pole position after a monstrous lap on Thursday,
Gabriele Minì came into Saturday's Feature Race with a 21-point margin to Câmara, but faced a sterner challenge from 16th on the grid.
Off the five red lights, the front trio maintained their positions. The biggest gainer was León, climbing up from sixth to fourth after a move to the inside of Turn 1. Mari Boya and Kush Maini dropped a spot each, with the Campos ascending up the order.
But in typical Baku fashion, the safety car was called out on the opening lap of the race. Trident's John Bennett had been turned around by VAR's Rafael Villagómez, as they went in alongside Roman Bilinski into Turn 1. Bennett was then left stranded in the run-off area, with the safety car called through the pit lane to recover the Briton's Trident.
Stenshorne then faced the challenge of leading the field back to racing speed, and he nailed the restart. Dunne then faced pressure from Câmara, who threw a move to the outside in a bid to take second from his title rival. The Irishman fended off the Invicta, holding on to second, with Câmara then holding on to third from León.
Further back, Tsolov made up a position on Ritomo Miyata, reclaiming his 11th position spot he started from on the grid. Joshua Dürksen and Minì then followed suit, claiming the position heading into the Castle section.
Dunne kept his teammate honest heading onto the crucial Lap 6 mark, post which drivers could make their mandatory pit stops. Yet, there was a twist to follow once again. Hitech's Miyata came to a stop at Turn 7, with a yellow flag and potentially an interruption to the race.
Sensing a safety car, Dunne made an immediate call to take his mandatory pit stop, making it into the pit stops just before the virtual safety car was called out. The likes of Dunne, Maini, Montoya and Beganovic had also capitalised on this interruption, while DAMS also pitted Bilinski.
The news of his teammate pitting came much to the anguish of race leader Stenshorne, who radioed to the team to call him in when they noticed the stopped Hitech. With F2's rules not allowing drivers to pit under a virtual safety car period, drivers had to circulate for more laps.
The VSC was withdrawn soon after, with Stenshorne now leading from Câmara and León. But the field once again kept themselves on standby, with ART's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak clouting the barriers at Turn 15, before slowing at Turn 16 and becoming the third retirement from the race.
Stenshorne took the opportunity to make his pit stop, albeit under green flag running, and lost the lead to Dunne as he came out onto the track on cold tyres.
The VSC was called out for a second time, with Câmara still out on track. He made a crucial pit stop once the green flag was called out on Lap 10, rejoining ahead of Dunne on cold tyres. Stenshorne then inherited third on the road, as the field resumed green flag running again.
Dunne easily made his way past Câmara to take the net race lead, but faced an investigation from the stewards for crossing the line at pit entry. He received a five-second time penalty for his infraction, just as Tsolov began closing the gap to the top three ahead.
Meanwhile, his teammate León made his way past Maini in a close move down to Turn 1, after a close move. The Indian driver then lost another position to Beganovic, now slipping to eighth on the road.
Elsewhere, Dunne was informed of his penalty, and continued to push on, in a bid to open up the gap, with Câmara then following suit. Minì, meanwhile, made his way past Dürksen's Invicta, climbing up to 12th, even as Bilinski moved into 10th ahead, passing Montoya.
Tsolov had steadily closed the gap to Stenshorne, before going for his overtake on Lap 22 to climb up to third. It was a crucial move, putting him in a net second position, given Dunne's penalty ahead, as he sat within five seconds ahead.
Minì, meanwhile, put himself up into the points at the same time, looking to take away something from a difficult weekend. His championship rivals, on the other hand, found themselves close in the top three, with Tsolov now in close proximity to his two contenders ahead.
As the race headed into its final laps, Dunne looked to have run out of tyre grip, having extracted plenty of it in his quest to break away from Câmara. However, both of them faced a challenge from Tsolov behind, who was instructed to close down the Invicta ahead, who was looking to get past Dunne for the race lead.
The top three were pushing all the way, with Dunne even locking up heavily at Turn 16 on the penultimate lap. Yet, there was no change of position, with the Irishman claiming victory on track, but dropping to third in the championship classification.
Further back, a late moment of contact saw Beganovic lose sixth to Boya, while the likes of Minì, Bilinski and Goethe separated by six tenths of a second across the line. Here's how it all panned out after the second Feature Race at Baku.
Classification - F2 Feature Race 2 (Baku)
Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing) - DNF
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix) - DNF
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR) - DNF
John Bennett (Trident) - DNF
Comments