Invicta Racing’s Rafael Camara snatched the advantage in a three-way championship fight during this weekend’s bumper round on the streets of Baku.
With the final two events of the season in doubt due to the Middle East crisis, F2 added an extra feature race to its billing in Baku.
Rodin Motorsport duo Alex Dunne and Martin Stenshorne took a pole each in qualifying for the two feature races, while pre-event points leader Nikola Tsolov lined up from reversed-grid pole for the sprint race.
Campos Racing’s Tsolov remained in front at the start of the opening contest, but the safety car was soon deployed when Mari Boya crashed into the barriers after being rear-ended by Camara who was subsequently handed a 10-second penalty.
Having completed a double-overtake on the first lap, Dunne continued to make progress by passing Sebastian Montoya for fifth.
Tsolov, meanwhile lost the lead to Dino Beganovic at the beginning of lap six, and a mistake cost the Red Bull junior a further place to Laurens van Hoepen.
Dunne picked off Camara before taking third away from Tsolov on lap 13 of 21, with Camara also passing his title rival for fourth.
The safety car was required again in the closing stages when Joshua Duerksen hit the barriers at turn one, and there was further carnage at the final-lap restart, as Oliver Goethe locked up and collected title contender Gabriele Mini, while Noel Leon and Ritomo Miyata also collided.
Beganovic remained in front to claim his second straight win ahead of van Hoepen, while Dunne boosted his title hopes with third. Tsolov finished fifth behind Stenshorne, while Camara failed to score after pitting during the late safety car period and losing further ground in the subsequent melee.
Dunne led team-mate Stenshorne in the first feature race, and he made his mandatory pitstop when the safety car was deployed due to Boya stopping on track with a loose wheel.
Tsolov had already tumbled to 18th by this stage due to a slow tyre change, and things got worse for when he got caught up in a three-car clash at the restart and retired.
The race was red-flagged, and Goethe led Dunne when the action got back underway.
Dunne regained first place with 10 minutes of allotted time remaining before sealing his first victory of the season, while Goethe tumbled to the rear of the field while defending from Stenshorne, who completed a Rodin one-two.
Beganovic completed the podium, and Camara moved to the top of the standings by one point by coming home fourth.
Stenshorne remained ahead of Dunne when the second feature race got underway, and he continued to lead during an early safety-car restart, while Dunne resisted a challenge from Camara for second.
Dunne made his mandatory stop before an early virtual safety car period, and Stenshorne pitted prior to a second VSC shortly afterwards but was passed by his team-mate on rejoining.
Camara initially emerged ahead of Dunne for the net-race lead after coming in for his tyre before being overtaken on the pit straight, but Dunne’s hopes of a second win in a row were hampered by a 5s penalty for crossing the pit-entry line during his earlier pitstop.
The Alpine junior eventually finished first of the road, but with his two chief rivals close behind him was relegated to third. Camara therefore took victory ahead of Tsolov to extend his points lead, with Beganovic coming home fourth.
Featured image credit: F2 on X
