All images ©: Dutch Photo Agency
Invicta Racing added 14 points to its 2026 FIA Formula 2 Championship tally at the Red Bull Ring, as Rafael Câmara and Joshua Dürksen secured a double points finish in the Feature Race after an intense weekend of wheel-to-wheel action.
With track temperatures soaring to 50°C, Friday’s 30-minute Qualifying session was a careful balance between speed and control and both Invicta Racing drivers displayed encouraging pace from the outset.
With his opening representative run, Joshua briefly moved into the top three while Rafael was unfortunately unable to complete his first flying lap after being impeded on the approach to Turn 9.
Having abandoned his initial attempt, Rafael recorded his first representative lap with 19 minutes remaining and surged to the top of the timesheets. He remained at the head of the field until Noel León edged ahead with 12 minutes to go.
During his second run, Rafael looked set to challenge for pole position after setting a personal best opening sector and the fastest middle sector of the session, but unfortunately lost time over the final third of the lap which prevented an improvement beyond the top five.
Neither Invicta Racing driver was able to improve on their final attempts, with Rafael ranking fifth while Joshua narrowly missed out on pole position for the reverse grid Sprint Race in 11th.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P5 (1:15.784)
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Joshua Dürksen: P11 (1:15.969)
In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Rafael moved up to fifth through the opening sequence of corners after starting from sixth and made light contact with Tasanapol Intharphuvasak in Turn 3 while Joshua simultaneously tapped Nikola Tsolov, with the series of incidents causing an early Safety Car.
Stranded behind the stricken car of Tsolov, Joshua fell to 19th and faced an uphill battle when the race was resumed on Lap 4. Rafael, meanwhile, wasted little time at the restart, diving up the inside of Gabriele Minì into Turn 3 to claim fourth place.
Running just outside of the podium positions, Rafael steadily reduced the gap to Rafael Villagómez as the leading group remained closely matched, but came under increasing pressure from behind as the closing stages approached.
After pressuring Rafael for a handful of laps, Alex Dunne overtook to demote the Brazilian back to fifth place, before Minì also found a way through following a prolonged side-by-side battle into Turn 6 on Lap 22.
Rafael continued to fight up until the chequered flag and crossed the line in sixth, but received a five-second time penalty post-race for the collision with Intharphuvasak and was classified ninth. Joshua, meanwhile, failed to finish after being instructed to retire on Lap 13 following the earlier contact.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P9 (0 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: DNF (0 points)
With high ambient and track temperatures, tyre management was set to play a decisive role in Sunday’s Feature Race at the Red Bull Ring and both Invicta Racing drivers made a strong start from fifth and 11th on the grid.
While Rafael applied pressure to the top four from the outset, Joshua worked his way up to ninth place before getting caught up in an incident between Villagómez and Sebastián Montoya on the approach to Turn 3, which caused an early Safety Car.
Rafael held sixth on Lap 5’s restart while Joshua, despite the earlier contact, continued to make progress by overtaking Inthraphuvasak for eighth place around the outside of Turn 3.
As the race settled into a rhythm, Joshua and Rafael pitted for fresh Soft tyres on Laps 9 and 10 and rejoined 15th and 13th respectively.
Running in a tightly packed train of cars – with the top five in the Drivers’ Championship nose-to-tail – Rafael used DRS to overtake León for 12th on Lap 15. Joshua, meanwhile, continued his own charge, first passing John Bennett before clearing León one lap later.
A Virtual Safety Car caused by a stoppage for Mari Boya between Turns 3 and 4 briefly paused the action, but once the alternate strategy runners completed their mandatory pit stops on Lap 31, Rafael and Joshua emerged in fourth and fifth.
Within striking distance of the podium, Rafael immediately launched an attack on Dunne on Lap 33 but was forced off the circuit in Turn 3 as the pair continued an intense battle over the next few laps.
After making light contact on Lap 35, Rafael moved up to third at the start of Lap 36 while Joshua, attempting to avoid Dunne ahead, ran wide at Turn 1 and slipped to seventh.
Dunne quickly reclaimed third from Rafael with the help of DRS before Oliver Goethe – who was running on fresher Supersoft tyres – swept past both drivers in Turn 4 as their battle continued.
Rafael performed a final decisive move to reclaim fourth by overtaking Dunne around the outside of Turn 6. Joshua, meanwhile, finished ninth - recovering from a near spin after clipping the exit kerb at Turn 1.
RESULTS
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Rafael Câmara: P4 (12 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: P9 (2 points)
RAFAEL CÂMARA
“Overall, it was a solid weekend here in Austria, with more important points scored. Considering the potential we had, I think the results could have been better, but by finishing fourth in the Feature Race, we added some more good points to our total. I want to thank the whole team for their hard work so far this season. We have another race weekend coming straight up at Silverstone, and we need to keep pushing.”
JOSHUA DÜRKSEN
“Overall, I have mixed feelings from this weekend. We showed good pace in practice and in the first run in Qualifying, but the session was super tight and the second run cost us a good starting position for both races. The Sprint Race was a big shame because I was confident of a good result before the incident. Sunday went much better - our pace was strong and the car felt good, but the final laps were very tricky. To avoid Dunne, who braked quite early, I had to go onto the dirty side of the track and I lost a lot of grip and performance as a result. I was happy with our performance up until that point, and it’s good to be back inside the top 10. I’m looking forward to Silverstone and confident we can have a good weekend there.”
JAMES ROBINSON, TEAM PRINCIPAL
“It’s been a very hot and hard-fought weekend here at the Red Bull Ring, and although it feels satisfying to come away with a double points finish, there is a sense that there was more on the table. Both Rafa and Joshua drove accomplished races, and with two-thirds of the Feature Race done, it looked like we were on track for a good result. Unfortunately, our ultimate potential was compromised by Rafa’s ongoing battle with Dunne. Overall, I think second could have been possible, but really the damage was done on Friday in Qualifying. Lining up in fifth and having the start we did, especially when we had the pace to win, was sub-optimal. Joshua drove very well this weekend too but was unlucky with the off in Turn 1 and getting held up by Dunne. There are some areas we can improve on, but all in all it’s good to have both cars in the points and we’re looking forward to our home race at Silverstone.”
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Invicta Racing: P4 (105 points)
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Rafael Câmara: P3 (82 points)
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Joshua Dürksen: P13 (23 points)
