Rafael Camara took a convincing pole position at the iconic Silverstone venue for the Formula 2 British Grand Prix weekend.
The Brazilian secured the crucial victory just two tenths clear of his closest rival, Alex Dunne. The pair will make up Sunday’s Feature Race front row, with Kush Maini starting closely behind in third.
As the lights turned green, drivers made their way onto the circuit for their early warm-up laps. Following the sole 45-minute practice session, it was RODIN’s Alex Dunne who led the pack early in the weekend. The Irishman needs a clean weekend in Silverstone to reclaim lost ground in the Championship last weekend.
Early lap times
In the first runs, it was championship leader Gabriele Mini who set one of the first flying lap times with a 1:41.437. But it was the DAMS duo of Dino Beganovic and Roman Bilinski who set the pace early. The Polish driver Blinski set a flying 1:41.123, three tenths faster than his Alpine Academy rival.
However, the Polish driver was quickly knocked off the top spot as ART’s Kush Maini set the flying lap of the first runs, with a 1:40.764.
As with last weekend, drivers began to lose their early lap times due to several track-limits infringements.
After getting their lap times deleted, Dunne set the fastest time of the session, dipping into the 1:40s, two tenths clear of Maini. Further back, reigning Formula 3 champion Rafael Camara set the third fastest time, with a 1:40.771.
After 15 minutes on the circuit, all drivers made their way back into the pit lane for a change of tyres, ahead of their next stint. Championship leader Mini was the driver under the most pressure after the opening stint, as the Italian found himself in thirteenth place, four points behind his Championship rival Nikola Tsolov.
With 12 minutes remaining in the session, drivers made their way back onto the circuit for their last runs. As the championship contenders saw themselves further down the order, qualifying looked to be an opportunity for the likes of Camara and Dunne.
Final 10 minutes
As the final runs unfolded, Mini found himself over a second quicker than his previous first-sector time. However, Nikola Tsolov responded with purple sectors one and two, putting himself firmly in the box seat for pole position.
The Bulgarian stopped the clock with a 1:40.486 before immediately improving to a 1:39.972, briefly moving to the top of the timesheets.
But the benchmark continued to tumble. Bilinski edged ahead with a 1:39.967, only for Maini to lower the mark further with a 1:39.892.
Championship contender Camara then produced a stunning lap of 1:39.690, going two tenths clear of the field and appearing to have secured pole. Moments later, Dunne crossed the line in 1:39.891, ending his run two tenths behind his rival.
Despite his rapid early sectors, Tsolov was unable to improve on his final attempt. With less than four minutes remaining, the Bulgarian came over the radio saying, “I cannot go faster. It was a mega lap,” as he ultimately slipped to fifth despite his impressive effort.
Drivers began to make their way back into the pits, as no driver felt they could beat the flying lap time of Camara.
The Brazilian will start alongside Dunne for Sunday’s feature race. But all eyes now shift to tomorrow’s shorter sprint race, where Mini starts from pole position. Aiming to have a damage limitation race weekend.
Discussion about this post