Barcelona – Qualifying: Câmara easily takes pole position ahead of Dunne and Minì

Despite finishing seventh in the overall standings, Rafael Câmara confirmed his status as a championship favorite by securing pole position in Formula 2 at Barcelona. The Brazilian dominated a session disrupted by a red flag caused by Ritomo Miyata.

After Laurens Van Hoepen topped the free practice sessions, qualifying quickly turned in favor of Rafael Câmara. The Invicta rider, champion of Formula 3 The reigning champion posted an impressive 1:24.810 with sixteen minutes remaining in the session, which was enough to secure first place. Nikola Tsolov, second in the championship just one point behind Gabriele Minì before this weekend, and provisionally fastest at that point, was unable to match the Brazilian's excellent lap, which was more than four-tenths of a second quicker.

The end of the session was disrupted by a red flag four minutes from time. Ritomo Miyata went off the track in the final corner before crashing into the tire barriers. The Japanese driver quickly emerged uninjured from his vehicle. car, but the interruption severely limited the possibilities for improvement.

When the session resumed with just 3 minutes and 41 seconds remaining on the clock, most of the leaders opted to stay in the pits rather than risk a final attempt. This decision solidified the top 10. Rafaele Câmara thus secured his second consecutive pole position. Formula 2He will clearly want to do better than last weekend in Monaco, where he succumbed to the pressure from Nikola Tsolov and handed him the victory by retiring. The Brazilian rookie finished ahead of Alex Dunne.

Joshua Dürksen set the second fastest time but was penalized five places on both grids for failing to respect yellow flags following Ritomo Miyata's off-track excursion — the Japanese driver also lost his best time after being judged to be solely responsible for the red flag. Gabriele Minì therefore inherits third place on the grid ahead of Rafael Villagomez and Nikola Tsolov. All benefit from the Paraguayan's penalty, which puts him sixth in the qualifying standings.

The reigning F3 champion also extends a remarkable statistic: since 2022, all pole-sitters in Barcelona have been rookies. After jack doohan, Oliver BearmanPaul Aron and Arvid Lindblad, Rafael Câmara becomes the fifth consecutive rookie to start in the lead on the Catalan circuit.

ALSO READ > Monaco – Main race: Tsolov triumphs, Câmara loses everything against his rival

F2 – Barcelona
The qualifying rankings