Rafael Câmara converts pole position to a win in the F2 feature race, with safety cars, a red flag and plenty of action.
Chaos at the start
As the lights went out in Spa, disaster struck for DAMS Lucas Oil. Dino Beganovic wasn’t even able to start the race, after stalling on the grid. Roman Bilinksi was caught up in contact with Montoya and Mini, who later got a 5-second time penalty for the incident. Oliver Goethe was also involved in the turn one carnage, being hit from behind by Ritomo Miyata. The incident resulted in his early exit from the race and brought out a safety car. On the other hand, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak had a great launch off the line and took the lead from Rafael Câmara.
Supersoft runners struggling
As the race progressed, drivers on the Supersoft tyre started to drop in pace compared to the Medium runners. This led Nikola Tsolov to drop two places in a single lap. Câmara however, seemed to have managed his tyres slightly better. On lap five, he retook the lead, before heading into the pits along with those who started on the same strategy.
Van Hoepen brings out the Red Flag
At the exit of turn seven, Laurens van Hoepen took too much curb, causing the Trident car to lose control and head straight into the barriers, bringing out the red flag. After a fantastic job by the marshal team at Spa, the race got back underway with a rolling start, with the clock dictating how long was left instead of a lap counter.
Track Limits galore
With 16 minutes left on the clock, Emerson Fittipaldi came to a stop in the gravel trap, issuing another Safety Car. This allowed the medium tyre starters to make their mandatory pit stop. Meanwhile, Câmara had amazing pace, carving through the field and back into P1.
The track limits screen was alight with many violations in the closing stages of the race. The main culprits were the at-the-time podium sitters, Noel Leon and Alex Dunne, who ended up with 5-second time penalties. It caused the 2nd and 3rd place trophies to slip from their hands.
No rain on Câmara’s parade
Despite warning of a few drops of rain on the final lap, Câmara took victory in Spa-Francorchamps. Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov collected P2 and P3 after the penalties were applied.