Câmara on bouncing back in style to claim maiden victory in Barcelona

Rafael Câmara bounced back from a disappointing end in Monte Carlo to win the Barcelona Feature Race, and he could not be happier about the result.

The Invicta Racing driver started from pole in the Principality, as he did at the Spanish venue, but ran off track at Turn 1 while in a battle with Nikola Tsolov.

But a week later, Câmara put that moment in Monaco behind him to claim his first victory in Formula 2 in Barcelona.

“It feels good win after Monaco,” said Câmara. “We have had the pace, we have had everything to do it, but there was a bit of a mistake on my side. Today though I'm very happy.

“The team were doing a very good job, an amazing job. So now we just need keep our head down, keep working hard and just getting stronger.”

Unlike in Monaco where Câmara kept the lead of the race from pole, he lost out in Barcelona to Alexander Dunne, the Rodin Motorsport driver taking P1 on the run to Turn 1.

However, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member was showing good pace and stayed on the back of Dunne before he pitted at the end of Lap 13.

Câmara and his Invicta Racing team chose not to cover the Rodin, and instead went long on their Soft tyres, doing 22 laps before pitting for the Hards, which he ran for the final 15 tours of the race.

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The Brazilian says it was a plan he and the team had put together before the start of the race.

“I was a little surprised,” said Câmara on the strategy. “I was then even thinking maybe we can do Soft here to the end. But obviously you’re not allowed to use the same compound.

“So it was a good strategy. We spoke about it before the race about trying to keep the first stint quite long and I think we managed very well. So I'm very happy with everything.”

Even after the stop, Câmara’s victory was not guaranteed as he had to fight to get past Dino Beganovic, Rafael Villagómez, Gabriele Minì and Dunne to take the lead.

While doing that, he was being informed of the charge of Tsolov, who used the alternative strategy to get up to P2 late on – before a post-race penalty dropped him to fourth in the final classification.

“I had to make a few overtakes,” joked Câmara. “But honestly when I came out and saw what the gap was to Alex, I was like a bit worried.

“But like always, I just focused on doing my thing. I kept it clean, tried to maximise our momentum and we did very well. It was clean overtakes, so I managed to move quite fast and, in the end, managed to get the win.”

Next up for Câmara and the rest of the paddock is a trip to Spielberg for Round 6, and with the Brazilian now up to third in the Drivers’ Standings on 69 points.

The Invicta rookie now trails leader Minì by 17 points and while his focus is not completing on the title just yet, he acknowledges that it is nice to be in the conversation.

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“I think there still so many races to go that a lot of things can happen,” he said. “It's always nice to fight for championship, and for wins.

“But I think we are in a good spot. We keep doing our thing and I'm very fortunate to be a part of this.”