Rafael Camara emerged victorious from a heavily disrupted Formula 2 Qualifying session at the Belgian GP to claim a dramatic pole position.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak launched a stellar late attack but fell an agonising 0.039 seconds short to take second.
Meanwhile, early provisional pole-sitter Alexander Dunne was forced to settle for third after a chaotic, stop-start afternoon in the Ardennes forest.
The F2 weekend at the Belgian GP so far
Nikola Tsolov carried his good form into the Belgian GP, topping Free Practice for Campos Racing. The championship leader clocked a 1:58.927 to edge out Rodin’s Martinius Stenshorne by 0.199 seconds.
The session saw rapid changes at the top. Rafael Camara, John Bennett, and Dino Beganovic all traded early fastest laps before Roman Bilinski seized control.
Tsolov then launched his late benchmark just before the final runs.
A late Red Flag cut the session short. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Nico Varrone lost control and crashed into the Turn 14 barrier, ending the action with under ten minutes remaining.
Despite the shunt, Varrone kept third place ahead of Bilinski and Noel Leon. Meanwhile, track limits plagued Alexander Dunne, who had four lap times deleted.
Fight for pole at the Belgian GP
Drivers headed out onto the circuit with Supersoft tyres fitted as the green light signalled the start of the session.
Tyre temperature promised to be absolutely crucial if the rain continued, prompting a cautious build-up toward the first flying laps. However, the action halted almost immediately when Noel Leon spun cresting the hill on an outlap, caught out by cold tyres. His stranded car stopped on track just past Raidillon, triggering an immediate Red Flag.
He managed to get going again but was quickly noted by stewards for being the sole cause of the stoppage. While the field waited, officials confirmed that Leon would be investigated after the session for the incident.
The green light soon flickered back on, and the field went back underway as the rain eased slightly. First laps flooded in, and Leon initially set the time to beat with a 1:58.657.
That benchmark was obliterated moments later when Nikola Tsolov clocked a 1:57.389 to pip title rival Rafael Camara for the top spot.
The final laps
A tense game of tactics followed, where drivers hunted for a slipstream but refused to lead the field.
Leon had been flying through the final sectors of the lap just as Laurens van Hoepen ground to a halt, ending up stationary on the start/finish straight.
The yellow flags quickly upgraded to a session-stopping Red Flag, which hampered Alex Dunne’s try to get another great lap in.
With 3:25 on the clock, the session resumed for one final fast lap.
With just 50 seconds remaining on the clock, drivers abandoned tactical games and pushed hard to secure track position for their final attempts.
The timesheets fractured instantly. Noel Leon briefly claimed the top spot, only to be immediately demoted by Nikola Tsolov.
While Tsolov lit up the timing screens with the fastest Sector 2 time, a flying Rafael Camara was charging hard right behind him.
Camara smashed the benchmark, pumping in a blistering 1:56.306 to grab provisional pole.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak launched a final attack but narrowly missed out, falling just 0.039 seconds short of Camara to take second, while Alex Dunne ended his run 0.186 seconds adrift of the top spot.
READ MORE – Formula 2 Belgian GP – Qualifying results
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