QUALIFYING: Câmara bounces back in style to take pole in Monte Carlo

Rafael Câmara recovered from early contact with the barriers that left him sidelined in the pitlane for much of the session to take the Aramco Pole Position Award in Monte Carlo.

The Invicta Racing driver’s 1:20.923 in Group A put him on pole for the Feature Race, with Nikola Tsolov leading the way in Group B. The Campos Racing driver’s 1:21.053 was enough to give him a front row start on Sunday.

GROUP A

Câmara was the first to set a representative time, but the Invicta rookie ran too wide at the final corner and hit the barrier, damaging the suspension on his car, and forcing him to pit.

Behind him, Alexander Dunne completed a 1:22.427 to set the pace with Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata in P2, albeit 0.310s behind his Rodin Motorsport rival.

Dino Beganovic then took over at the top with a 1:21.947. But it was close as Gabriele Minì went 0.084s behind the DAMS Lucas Oil driver.

The session was then stopped with just under four minutes left as John Bennett ran into the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the Red Flags.

With the TRIDENT car cleared the session resumed, and Noel León went fastest on a 1:21.595 despite hitting the wall in the final sector.

But Câmara, having recovered from his earlier hit with the barrier, went to provisional pole with a 1:20.923 despite his limited track time.

Dunne followed the Invicta driver across the line and improved, but wound up in P2, 0.110s down on Câmara, with Beganovic in third, Minì fourth, as León rounded out the top five.

GROUP B

As the drivers prepared for their first flying laps, the Red Flags were waved with Laurens van Hoepen’s car stuck on the kerb at the Nouvelle chicane following a collision with Kush Maini.

The session resumed with Colton Herta going quickest on a 1:22.672. But the times were dropping quickly with Maini jumping up to P1 on a 1:21.405, and then Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov going 0.265s behind in second.

Maini then improved to a 1:21.338, with Tsolov once again his closest rival, just 0.001s behind the ART driver.

Just as the chequered flag was waved, Martinius Stenshorne went top on a 1:21.274, but was bested by Tsolov’s 1:21.053.

Tsolov sealed a front row start alongside Câmara for Sunday’s Feature Race, with Stenshorne in P2, Maini third, Roman Bilinski in fourth and Joshua Duerksen in P5.

Duerksen is set to lead the field away from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race, which is scheduled to start at 14:15 local time on Saturday afternoon.