Rafael Câmara claimed victory in the Formula 2 Feature race in Barcelona with a flawless strategy. Câmara crossed the chequered flag ahead of Nikola Tsolov and Alexander Dunne with a 9-second gap and an impressive strategy. Despite Barcelona’s notoriously high tyre degradation and unforgiving track limits, he delivered a composed and controlled performance.
An immediate change of leads
Lights hadn’t gone out, and Oliver Goethe was the first driver to deal with issues as he couldn’t start the car for the formation lap.
Rafael Câmara had a not-so-good launch, and Alex Dunne took the lead by turn one as Gabriele Mini and Nikola Tsolov went side-by-side at turn one. However, not even completing the first lap, Goethe, who started the race from the pit lane, stopped on track, and a safety car was deployed.
The Formula 2 Feature race restarted at the end of lap 3 with a clean restart and another great launch from Dunne. Câmara stayed within DRS range of Dunne’s Rodin Motorsport car. Further back, Tsolov started to fall in the order as the drivers with soft tyres had the pace advantage. The Bulgarian started the race on hard tyres, opting for a long-run strategy.
At the front, the lead group had a battle of their own. On lap 9, Mini tried a move on Rafael Villagomez for third, unsuccessfully. A lap later, the MP Motorsport driver tried again, as he clearly had the pace, and moved up to P3. Further back, Joshua Dürksen battled it out for tenth against Laurens van Hoepen.
On lap 13, drivers on softs started to do their pit stops. Alex Dunne, the race leader, went in while Rafael Câmara stayed out and became the new Formula 2 Feature race leader. At this point, strategy became crucial to maximise results and manage tyre degradation.
Strategic pits tops at the Formula 2 Feature race
The drivers who started on soft tyres started pitting as they lost the pace advantage. The only driver on softs at the front who hadn’t pitted was Câmara. On the other hand, Tsolov seemed to get more comfortable on the hard tyres, as the recently pitted drivers had to deal with traffic.
On lap 25, Câmara pitted, and Nikola Tsolov followed just a lap later to fit the soft tyres. Meanwhile, Dunne and Mini, who had been warming up the hard tyres, battled it out for the lead. Alex Dunne retook the lead of the Formula 2 Feature race.
Behind the leaders, Dino Beganovic, with an early pit stop strategy, started closing the gap with Villagomez in third. However, Câmara took both of them with impressive pace and moved up to third, chasing down Mini and Dunne. Further back, with eleven laps remainig, Tsolov was registering best personal laps and climbing up the order fast.
Rafael Câmara quickly caught up to Dunne, with fresher tyres. As Tsolov moved up to P4, Câmara retook the lead of the Formula 2 Feature race and ran away immediately. With five laps remaining, Nikola Tsolov moved up to third position and closed the gap to Dunne, running in second. With an outside move, the Campos Racing driver moved up to second.
Rafael Câmara saw the chequered flag 8 seconds ahead of Nikola Tsolov, with an impressive drive. Third position went down to the last lap, but it was Alex Dunne who claimed the last podium position. With his second position, Nikola Tsolov also retook the lead in the Championship.
