FEATURE RACE 2: Câmara inherits victory and leads championship after Baku

Rafael Câmara inherited victory of the Baku Feature Race 2 and takes a seven-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of Nikola Tsolov.

The Invicta Racing driver finished second on the road but was promoted to P1 once Alexander Dunne’s five-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry took effect.

The Rodin Motorsport driver dropped to third behind Tsolov, who put in a storming drive from P11 to second for Campos Racing.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was as you were at the start with Martinius Stenshorne maintaining P1 ahead of Dunne, while Câmara stayed in third place.

However the Safety Car was out moments later with John Bennett having been tagged into a spin and a stoppage by Rafael Villagómez at Turn 1.

Racing resumed on Lap 3 and it was a great restart from Stenshorne. But his teammate was struggling and Câmara tried to go around the outside at the opening corner. However, Dunne held him off, with León also looking on.

Significantly in the title fight, Tsolov overtook Ritomo Miyata to get back to his starting position in P11 at Turn 3.

Dunne then set the fastest time of the race and on Lap 5 was just half a second behind Stenshorne, and with DRS available to him.

Rodin called Dunne in at the start of Lap 7 just before the Virtual Safety Car was called upon with Ritomo Miyata having stopped on track.

Kush Maini, Dino Beganovic, Sebastián Montoya and Roman Bilinski also came in for their mandatory stop before the VSC.

With the Hitech car cleared, racing conditions resumed with Stenshorne 1.2s clear of Câmara.

Inthraphuvsak then stopped on track at Turn 16, leading Stenshorne, León, and Boya to come in. The Virtual Safety Car was called upon just after they came out of the pits, with Dunne able to jump ahead of his teammate for the effective race lead.

Back to green flag conditions on Lap 11 and Câmara, Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen came in for their mandatory stop, and critically they gained time on their rivals.

The Invicta driver took the lead ahead of Dunne, with van Hoepen fifth ahead of Tsolov.

But Dunne had fired up his tyres and overtook Câmara with the help of DRS going into Turn 1. Behind them, Tsolov got ahead of van Hoepen for fifth down the main straight.

Câmara’s tyres were now up to temperature, and he was right on the rear of Dunne, although Invicta came on the radio to tell their driver that they were happy for him to stay behind.

The Rodin driver’s day was then made more difficult as he was given a five-second time penalty for crossing the line at the pit entry.

Crucially, Tsolov, now in P4, set the fastest lap to close the gap to the top three. But Dunne was trying to build a gap and by the end of Lap 16 was 1.2s clear of Câmara.

Further behind, Beganovic made a move on Maini for P7. Montoya was trying to get the past the ART driver on Lap 17 but in his attempts lost a place to his PREMA Racing teammate Boya.

The Spanish driver was up to eighth on the next lap with a move at Turn 1 on Maini.

In response to Dunne, Câmara and Tsolov matched his pace, and the Bulgarian had closed to within DRS range of Stenshorne in P3.

The Campos driver was within half a second on Lap 20, but Stenshorne broke later at Turn 1 to maintain the place.

But Tsolov was through to third place with the help of DRS down the main straight.

Câmara responded to go back to within 0.9s on Lap 24 but Tsolov was over six-tenths quicker than his title rivals up ahead.

Invicta were on the radio telling Câmara to try and overtake Dunne to defend from Tsolov, but the Campos driver was informed of this plan, and he started to push to get within DRS.

The Bulgarian informed his team that he had the wall but that the car was okay and that showed as he was within DRS range of Câmara on Lap 27.

On to the final lap, and the top three were within two seconds, and Dunne held on to cross the chequered flag first but dropped to third once his penalty took effect.

Câmara took his third win of the season ahead of Tsolov, meaning there is a seven-point gap between the top two heading into the next round. Stenshorne finished fourth ahead of van Hoepen, with Boya in sixth ahead of Beganovic.

León ended up in P8 ahead of Gabriele Minì with Roman Bilinski taking the final point in 10th.

KEY QUOTE – Rafael Câmara, Invicta Racing

“Not the way we wanted P1 but overall it was a good race, good points for the championship and very happy with this weekend overall.”

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

In the Drivers’ Championship Rafael Câmara leads on 207 points ahead of Nikola Tsolov who has 200. Alexander Dunne is third on 189 points, with Gabriele Minì fourth on 163, as Dino Beganovic rounded out the top five on 189.

Campos Racing continue to lead the Teams’ Standings on 333 points, with Invicta Racing second on 297. Rodin Motorsport are just one point behind in third place with MP Motorsport fourth on 200 points, as DAMS Lucas Oil complete the top five on 173.

UP NEXT

The drivers will get a slight break before hitting the track once again at Round 13 in Lusail on November 27-29.