Jul 20

Invicta Racing soars to sensational double victory at Spa

All images ©: Dutch Photo Agency

Invicta Racing experienced an unforgettable weekend in Belgium, as Rafael Câmara secured his fourth FIA Formula 2 pole position before claiming a commanding Feature race victory, while Joshua Dürksen delivered a superb win in Saturday’s Sprint Race to complete a double triumph for the team

Invicta Racing's qualifying results banner

Threatening skies greeted the FIA Formula 2 field ahead of Friday’s Qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, but with the rain holding off, all drivers started the 30-minute contest on the Supersoft compound tyre.

Before representative lap times could be established, the session was interrupted almost immediately when Noel León spun at Raidillon to bring out an early Red Flag.

Following the restart, Rafael laid down a banker lap and then improved on his second flying lap to move into second place, just 0.223 seconds adrift of Alex Dunne at the top of the timesheets.

With 10 minutes remaining and after bolting on fresh Supersoft tyres, Rafael and Joshua returned to the circuit, only for Laurens van Hoepen to stop on the start-finish straight, triggering a second Red Flag.

The interruption left just three and a half minutes of the session remaining, presenting every driver with a single opportunity to complete a final flying lap.

Rafael rose to the occasion to move to the top of the timesheets and, with none of his rivals able to improve, the Brazilian secured his fourth FIA Formula 2 pole position of the season.

Joshua, meanwhile, who had shown encouraging pace throughout the session, produced a competitive final effort to place seventh.

RESULTS

Rafael Câmara: P1 (1:56.306)
Joshua Dürksen: P7 (1:56.822)

With the top 10 positions from Qualifying reversed, Joshua lined up in fourth for Saturday’s Sprint Race while Rafael started from 10th.

Joshua made an excellent getaway from the second row to overtake Roman Bilinski off the line for third, while Rafael climbed up to eighth by taking the outside line through Turn 1.

As the field settled into a rhythm, Joshua continued his charge and used DRS on Lap 6 to close in rapidly on Sebastián Montoya before completing a decisive move under braking into Les Combes for second.

Moments later, a spin for Cian Shields at Malmedy caused a Safety Car and, with the field bunched up, racing was resumed on Lap 8.

Joshua immediately turned his attention to Martinius Stenshorne at the restart and, by once again making full use of DRS, the Paraguayan repeated his earlier move into Les Combes to seize the lead.

Further back, Rafael continued to make progress by overtaking John Bennett for seventh before the British racer ran wide and spun through Blanchimont to bring out a second Safety Car.

The Sprint Race resumed for a one-lap dash to the chequered flag on Lap 18 and Joshua expertly controlled the restart to fend off late pressure from Stenshorne.

Rafael also capitalised on the final lap shootout to sweep past Montoya through Raidillon before closing in on the rear of Dunne.

Joshua crossed the line to secure a superb second FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race victory of the season, while Rafael staged a strong drive to finish sixth.

RESULTS

Joshua Dürksen: P1 (10 points)
Rafael Câmara: P6 (3 points)

Following Joshua’s Sprint Race success, Invicta Racing entered Sunday’s Feature Race aiming to extend its remarkable record at Spa, eyeing a fourth consecutive victory at the Belgian circuit.

Starting from pole position, Rafael was beaten off the line by Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak but defended second from Nikola Tsolov into La Source. Joshua, meanwhile, moved into fifth before immediately applying pressure on Dunne into Les Combes.

A chaotic first lap brought out the Safety Car after Gabriele Minì and Bilinski made contact in Turn 1, while Dino Beganovic stalled on the grid and Oliver Goethe stopped at the foot of Eau Rouge.

When racing resumed on Lap 3, Rafael again came under pressure from Tsolov, with the pair running side-by-side into Turn 1 before the Bulgarian ran into the gravel on exit, which allowed Joshua to inherit fourth.

Rafael quickly turned his attention to Inthraphuvasak and, using DRS, swept into the lead on Lap 5 while Joshua simultaneously overtook Dunne to move into the podium positions.

Showing excellent pace on the Medium tyres, Joshua passed Inthraphuvasak into the penultimate corner and next overtook Rafael to front an Invicta Racing 1-2, with the Brazilian pitting at the end of Lap 6.

Rafael rejoined in 12th, however, the complexion of the Feature Race changed when Van Hoepen crashed on the exit of Malmedy to trigger a Safety Car before the race was suspended with a Red Flag.

Joshua led the field away on Lap 10 while León, having completed his mandatory pit stop before the restart, emerged ahead of Rafael in the net race lead.

Rafael wasted little time in responding and, after piling on pressure, completed a decisive move into La Source before immediately dispatching of Emerson Fittipaldi Jr and Bilinksi down the Kemmel Straight using DRS.

A further interruption followed when Fittipaldi spun in Turn 7 to bring out yet another Safety Car. Joshua used the neutralisation to complete his mandatory pit stop and rejoined in 10th.

As Joshua’s fellow alternate-strategy runners made their pit stops, Rafael returned to the head of the field and led the pack back to green on Lap 14.

The Brazilian managed the restart perfectly by breaking clear of Dunne and moving outside of DRS range before controlling the remainder of the race to secure his second FIA Formula 2 victory of the season, while also claiming the Fastest Lap.

Joshua, who made progress by overtaking Ritomo Miyata and Colton Herta after the restart, struggled for pace as his Supersoft tyres began to fade and slipped back to 15th.

RESULTS

Rafael Câmara: P1 (26 points)
Joshua Dürksen: P15 (0 points)

RAFAEL CÂMARA

“It feels very good to be back on the top step of the podium, especially after Silverstone where we showed good potential but didn’t manage to deliver the results in the races. In general, the pace was good this weekend and the team did a great job to give me a strong package. With the Safety Cars and the Red Flag, there were a lot of factors to manage in the Feature Race, but we focused on what we had to do and responded well. Taking 31 points from this weekend is a good achievement but there’s still a very long way to go this season. We just need to maximise what we can control and hopefully, in the end, we can be there fighting for the title.”

JOSHUA DÜRKSEN

“The car felt really good this weekend and overall everything came together well, especially in the Sprint Race on Saturday. We’ve had a difficult couple of weekends recently, but we worked hard as a team, learned a lot and after the win, which was a long time coming, I think we’re in a good position that we can definitely build upon. Our pace was also strong on Sunday, but unfortunately the Red Flags and Safety Cars worked against our strategy. The pace on both compounds was good, but in the end, we ran out of life on the Supersofts which prevented me from making any further progress.”

JAMES ROBINSON, TEAM PRINCIPAL

“Overall, an incredible weekend here at Spa with pole position on Friday, the Sprint Race win on Saturday, and the Feature Race win Sunday alongside the Fastest Lap. It really doesn’t get much better than that. Over the past few weekends, there’s been a real sense of potential across the team but, for one reason or another, our results haven’t always aligned with our ultimate performance. After a dominant weekend at Spa in 2025, we knew we had a good opportunity to score big here again this weekend, and that’s exactly what we did. Rafa and Joshua were in excellent form. They did everything they needed to do on track, responding to and overcoming each challenge that they faced and delivering some truly memorable results. By taking back-to-back victories, we’ve been able to build some momentum and hopefully we can capitalise upon this at the Hungaroring.”