Rafael Câmara: ‘Confidence is building’ with strong Day 2 performance

Rafael Câmara and Invicta Racing enjoyed a positive second day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, with the Brazilian setting the fastest time of the event so far.

A 1:23.630 meant he topped the morning session, while in the afternoon it was teammate Joshua Duerksen that led the way, in an Invicta 1-2 to round out the day’s on-track running.

Speaking after stepping out of the car, Câmara said that he was happy to have ended up P1 but was more focused on ensuring he was as up to speed as possible with the F2 car ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne.

“It’s been a positive test so far,” he said after the session. “I think these two days were very positive, we're just trying to maximise the track time and learn as much as we can, especially for me to get used to the car.

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“I felt quite confident from the beginning. It was a very nice feeling with the car. So, like I said, it's been so far so good, and we’ll just keep trying to learn as much as possible, help the team to improve things and make sure that we're ready for Melbourne.”

Reflecting on his session-topping time, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy talent said that he was pushing, but that he was more concerned with what the Invicta run plan was, rather than how it compared to rival teams.

Câmara added that he was feeling more at home in the F2 car, which was also helpful as he completed longer running in the afternoon.

“It was a good lap, but it’s only testing. Obviously, we are always pushing, it was a decent lap, it’s not the right time to be P1, but it's always positive to be there. It's looking nice to be up to speed, but obviously it's difficult to prepare when you don't know what the others are doing.

“We are just focussing on our job, making sure that we're doing things properly, that I feel good with the car and just trying to continue to maximise the track time and to make sure we're ready.

“We did a long run in the afternoon that was quite long. It was nice to do a long run to see how the car feels and it was really my first proper long run. It was good, but we’re just fine tuning the car.

“After we did some performance running, Prime-Option. Unfortunately, on the Options we couldn't really do a lap because there was traffic. But I was just trying to find things and so far, it's been looking very positive.”

Looking ahead to the final day of on-track running before the 2026 campaign gets underway in Australia, Câmara said he expects run plans to be similar to Day 2, with performance running followed by longer race simulations after the track conditions improve further into the day.

“It’ll be pretty similar. I think every day you just try to do a bit of performance running and then also some long runs. So probably the same as today.

“You don't want to drive when it's very cold because it's not very representative, especially for when we come here in the race. So yeah, very similar programmes and we’ll keep doing our best.”