Formula 2: Rafael Camara opened the score for victories

      From pole position in the main Formula 2 race in Barcelona, Rafael Kamara started, but Alex Dunn and Gabriele Minì began from second and third positions. Both clearly intended to fight for victory, so the Brazilian driver from Invicta Racing had to withstand their pressure, which, of course, is not easy.

      At the start, he failed to do so, as Dunn accelerated slightly better and took the lead before the first corner, while Rafael Villagómez pushed Minì down to fourth position. However, on the first lap, the safety car was deployed due to the stoppage on the track of Oliver Goethe's orange Dallara. Something broke, and this was the first retirement, and as subsequent events showed, the last one.

      At the restart, the top five looked like this: Dunn – Kamara – Villagómez – Minì – Nico Varone. Meanwhile, a battle for sixth position unfolded between Nikola Zolov and Colton Herta, who had been vying for a podium yesterday but made a mistake on the last lap and missed the chance to shine. It can be assumed that today the American driver wanted to make amends, so he acted quite aggressively in the early laps and overtook the Bulgarian.

      Moreover, Zolov, who started on hard tires, continued to lose positions, as he was passed by Dino Beganović and Martinus Stenshorn, who were on Softs. But it soon became clear that Campos Racing's strategy was not so wrong, as after six laps the drivers in the leading group began to complain that the soft tires were losing effectiveness. This indicated that they would soon head for the mandatory pit stop, allowing Nikola Zolov to move up.

      The first to pit was Martinus Stenshorn, but he was outside the top ten, while in the front rows, this was happening: Kamara was trying to pressure Dunn, but he maintained the lead, and Minì managed to overtake Villagómez and move up to third position.

      On lap 13, Rafael turned into the pit lane, and Kamara made another attempt to attack, but Dunn again fended it off; however, on the next lap, he was the first of the pair to head for the pit stop for hard tires. Herta and Minì followed suit.

      Minì returned to the track in 15th position, and now it remained to wait for Kamara's pit stop, who was still on the track. But among those who had already been to the pit lane, Dunn was in the most advantageous position, running in 10th.

      Of course, Nikola Zolov was also not planning to change tires, and the team informed him over the radio that those returning to the track after a pit stop would inevitably run into traffic, which was only beneficial for the Bulgarian driver from Campos, who was already running second, 15 seconds behind Kamara, and gradually catching up to the Brazilian.

      Rafael headed to the pit stop only after 22 laps on soft tires, and after the visits to the pits of the other competitors, including Zolov (who returned to the track in fourth), he was back in the lead. Dunn was 1.5 seconds behind him, followed by Minì. Nikola was relentlessly closing in on the top three, but what would come of it on a track like the Catalan circuit would have to be determined in the final laps.

      Indeed, this is what happened: with four laps to go, Zolov overtook Minì and was already catching up to Dunn. The tires on the Bulgarian driver’s Campos car were clearly working more effectively, and on lap 35, after a very interesting duel, he overtook Alex, who was fighting hard until the end; however, Nikola was still faster.

      However, it was difficult to assume that he would catch up to Kamara in the remaining three laps, as the Brazilian was eight seconds ahead.

      And so they finished: Rafael, last year's Formula 3 champion, achieved his first victory in F2, Nikola Zolov finished second, and Alex Dunn took third place. But more importantly: since Gabriele Minì finished only fourth, Zolov became the leader of the youth series following the results of the Barcelona stage.

      Results are being prepared…