Câmara beats Dunne to F2 pole at Silverstone

Rafael Câmara took his third pole position of the Formula 2, season, beating practice pace-setter Alexander Dunne to P1 at Silverstone. With his final lap of the day, the Invicta Racing driver’s 1m39.690s put him on top of his Rodin rival by 0.201s, as ART Grand Prix Kush Maini rounded out the top three, just 0.001s behind Dunne.

However, it was Roman Bilinski that was the early pacesetter for DAMS Lucas Oil with a 1m41.123s as Nikola Tsolov completed his first lap to go up to second, just 0.041s behind. ART then made their move with Maini going quickest on a 1m40.764s, while his teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak went to P3.

Moments later, Nico Varrone jumped up to P2 but was demoted to third by his Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Rafael Villagómez – who was 0.187s off Maini’s leading time. The drivers pushed on for another lap on their first set of soft tires, and there were a few improvements, including from Dunne. The Irishman went top on a 1m40.536s after having his first time deleted for exceeding track limits.

After a short stint in the pitlane, the drivers returned to the track, fitted with a brand new set of softs. The times were lit alight with improvements but on this occasion, it was Câmara who went fastest on a 1m39.690s.

Dunne followed him across the line but his time was only good enough for second, with the Invicta driver over two-tenths clear of the rest of the field, while Maini settled for P3. Maini was part of a group of drivers that opted to pit after just one lap on this set of tires, but a few others continued on looking to improve on their position.

Bilinski was fourth ahead of Tsolov, with Inthraphuvasak in P6. Joshua Duerksen was seventh, ahead of Villagómez, Ritomo Miyata and championship leader Gabriele Minì rounding out the top 10. Colton Herta, whose practice time was curtailed by mechanical issues with his Hitech entry, was 15th.

Minì is set to start from reverse grid pole in Saturday afternoon's Sprint Race, with the lights set to go out at 1:45 local time.

RESULTS