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Invicta Racing enjoyed a landmark weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as Rafael Câmara converted a second consecutive FIA Formula 2 pole position into his maiden victory in the series
A 30-minute Qualifying session awaited the FIA Formula 2 field on Friday afternoon, with grid positions for both races up for grabs around the ever-demanding Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Joshua Dürksen was the first of the Invicta Racing drivers to lay down a representative lap in the session, briefly moving to the top of the timesheets before the battle for provisional pole position intensified, with just 0.056 seconds covering the top three.
As the session approached its mid-way point, Rafael surged to the head of the field to establish himself as the driver to beat. Joshua, meanwhile, occupied fifth once the first round of runs were complete.
With just four minutes remaining, Joshua produced a significant improvement on his second run to move into second place, just over a tenth of a second adrift of his team-mate.
Moments after Joshua completed his lap, Qualifying was red flagged when Ritomo Miyata hit the barriers exiting the final corner and, when the session was resumed, only a handful of drivers elected to return to the circuit.
None were able to challenge Rafael’s benchmark, with the Brazilian securing a second consecutive FIA Formula 2 pole position while Joshua completed an impressive front-row lockout for Invicta Racing.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P1 (1:24.810)
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Joshua Dürksen: P2 (1:24.945)
With the top 10 positions from Qualifying reversed for Saturday’s Sprint Race, Rafael lined up ninth while Joshua started from 14th after receiving a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect yellow flag requirements during Qualifying.
Rafael made an excellent launch from the fifth row and immediately moved into the points-paying positions by overtaking Alex Dunne off the line.
Joshua’s race, meanwhile, got off to a difficult start when contact with Martinius Stenshorne pushed the Paraguayan into the gravel at Turn 10, dropping him to the rear of the field.
Holding seventh place, Rafael quickly set about closing the gap to Rafael Villagómez ahead and applied sustained pressure on the Mexican using DRS. He launched a move around the outside of Turn 1 on Lap 15 but, after getting forced off the circuit in Turn 2, was forced to regroup for another attempt.
Two laps later, Rafael completed the move with a decisive dive up the inside of Turn 1 to secure sixth position and, with clear air ahead, immediately turned his attention towards Noel León, who held a seven-second advantage up the road.
Lap after lap, the Invicta Racing driver reduced the deficit and, by the final tour, was firmly within DRS range. Unfortunately, Rafael’s pursuit was compromised when Colton Herta ran wide and rejoined directly in his path, disrupting his momentum.
Despite continuing to apply pressure, now on Herta, Rafael crossed the line in sixth to score three points while Joshua finished 20th after the incident on the opening lap.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P6 (3 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: P20 (0 points)
Rafael lined up from pole position for Sunday’s Feature Race while Joshua, as a result of his grid penalty from Qualifying, started from seventh.
At lights out, Rafael initially lost the lead to Dunne on the run into Turn 1, settling into second position before a Safety Car, deployed following a stoppage for Oliver Goethe, neutralised the race.
When racing resumed at the end of Lap 3, Rafael continued to pressure the race leader while Joshua, who was running on the alternate strategy, struggled for pace on the Hard compound tyre and slipped outside of the top 10.
A breakthrough came on Lap 13 when Rafael launched an attack around the outside of Turn 1. Although he was unable to complete the move, Dunne took to the pit lane at the end of the lap to promote Rafael into the lead.
Presented with an opportunity to overcut his closest rival, Rafael pushed hard in clean air and extracted the maximum amount of performance from the Soft compound during an extended opening stint.
He completed his mandatory pit stop on Lap 23 and rejoined the race ninth overall - a net fifth position behind Dunne, Gabriele Minì, Villagómez, and Dino Beganovic, who had already been into the pit lane.
Joshua, meanwhile, inherited third position thanks to his strategy and made his own pit stop one lap later, rejoining in 18th.
Armed with fresh tyres in comparison to his competitors, Rafael rapidly craved his way through the field and overtook both Beganovic and Villagómez in quick succession to move into the podium places before hunting down Minì.
On Lap 28, Rafael passed the Italian using DRS for second place and immediately set his sights on Dunne, who was just two seconds ahead.
The gap quickly disappeared and, on Lap 30, Rafael confidently overtook Dunne with DRS and pulled clear at an astonishing rate to take the chequered flag by 9.8 seconds and secure the first victory of his FIA Formula 2 career.
Joshua, meanwhile, extracted the pace from his fresh Soft tyres during the closing stages to climb to 14th.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P1 (25 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: P14 (0 points)
RAFAEL CÂMARA
“I had a good feeling in the car this weekend and I’m very happy with our performance. Since the start of the season, things have been very good - but in the past two race weekends in Canada and Monaco, we didn’t achieve what we were capable of. Coming here, we knew that we just needed to continue to work in the same way, keeping our heads down and keeping everything under control to put it all together. We know how high the level is in this championship but, if we continue to do things in our own way, we can put ourselves in the fight.”
JOSHUA DÜRKSEN
“The car felt excellent this weekend but unfortunately in Qualifying the yellow flag was shown at the exact moment I passed the incident. The penalty put me in the thick of the fight for both races, and our Sprint was over before it really began with the incident at Turn 10. In the Feature Race, we decided to start on the Hard tyre which put us on the back foot over the opening stint, but the pace was strong at the end. The performance was definitely there this weekend and I’m gutted for the team that it didn’t lead to better results, but I want to thank them for the amazing job they did.”
JAMES ROBINSON, TEAM PRINCIPAL
“After the challenges we navigated in Montréal and Monaco, Barcelona was our opportunity to bounce back and it feels very satisfying to have realised our true potential this weekend. Rafa’s pole put us in the perfect position to challenge in the Feature Race on Sunday, and he delivered a mature performance with some excellent tyre and pace management which was critical to our strategy working. After coming close on multiple occasions this season, it felt good to see him on the top step and I’m sure it’ll be the first of many this season. Joshua showed good pace again this weekend, but the penalty left him facing an uphill battle in the races. He’s a formidable driver and is determined to fight back after a challenging run over the past few races. We can take immense confidence from this weekend and hopefully build further momentum in Austria.”
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Invicta Racing: P4 (90 points)
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Rafael Câmara: P3 (69 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: P11 (21 points)
