Rafael Câmara claimed victory during a chaotic Feature Race at the 2026 F2 Spa-Francorchamps Round at the Belgian GP, view the full report here.
Round 8 of the 2026 F3 season began with an eventful Sprint Race as Joshua Dürksen took victory, finishing ahead of Martinius Stenshorne and Dino Beganovic. The race saw four retirements and two safety cars, as Cian Shields crashed and John Bennett suffered an engine failure, resulting in a huge spin. Noel León and Gabriele Minì also joined the list of DNFs after retiring due to car issues.
Now, after a tight Qualifying session, Rafael Câmara lined up on pole for the Feature Race alongside Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in P2 and Alex Dunne in P3. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov started P4 as John Bennett completed the top five. Notably, Noel León lined up P20 after his Qualifying lap times were deleted, while Emerson Fittipaldi Jr., Rafael Villagómez and Shields served grid penalties for Qualifying yellow-flag infringements.
Early F2 Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race drama
At lights out, Inthraphuvasak led the field away as Câmara had a slow start. Beganovic stalled at the start, while Gabriele Minì and Roman Bilinski made contact at Turn 1 and Oliver Goethe stopped at the bottom of Eau Rouge. The early incidents triggered a Safety Car as Beganovic was rolled back to the pit lane, while Goethe retired. Meanwhile, PREMA Racing called Sebastián Montoya into the pit lane to replace a broken front wing.
The race resumed on Lap 3 with Inthraphuvasak making a strong restart. Behind, Tsolov closed in on Câmara with the two going side-by-side into Turn 1 before Tsolov went off into the gravel, dropping down to P5. Minì’s weekend continued to unravel as Race Control handed him a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision with Bilinski.
Running in P5, Tsolov soon lost positions to Nico Varrone, Bennett, and Martinius Stenshorne, dropping down to P8.
Van Hoepen brings out a red flag
At the front, Câmara managed to make his way back up into P1 as teammate Dürksen also overtook Inthraphuvasak, making it an Invicta Racing 1-2. A brief team battle began as Dürksen took the lead at Turn 17. However, Câmara didn’t fight back as the Brazilian pitted. All drivers who began on supersoft tyres entered the pit lane to switch to mediums, while the drivers running the alternative strategy stayed out.
Meanwhile, Kush Maini had a moment at Eau Rouge and Raidillon, running off track but avoiding the barrier. On Lap 9, however, Laurens van Hoepen suffered a massive crash after hitting a bump on corner exit, sending him spinning into the barriers at Turn 8. Luckily, the Dutch driver was not injured, as the incident brought out a red flag.
As drivers made their way back into the pit lane, Dürksen led the race, while León led those who had completed their mandatory pit stop after coming out ahead of Câmara. Notably, sitting P18, Minì served his penalty during his stop.
Dürksen leads a rolling start as 22 minutes remain
After the marshals cleared the track, Race Control announced that the race would resume at 10:48 local time. Dürksen led the field away in a rolling start as Varrone and Bennett followed in P2 and P3, respectively. Battling for P5, Mari Boya made his way past Bilinski at Turn 1, while Stenshorne and Montoya entered the pit lane to serve their mandatory stops.
After starting from the back of the grid, León managed to make his way past Shields, putting a car between himself and Câmara. However, his advantage didn’t last long as Câmara cleared Shields at Turn 5, immediately applying pressure on León. Câmara overtook León with 16 minutes left, while Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. spun into the gravel at Turn 7, triggering a Safety Car.
The interruption allowed the drivers on the alternative strategy to pit under the Safety Car, promoting Câmara up the order and back into the lead of the F2 Belgian Feature Race.
Track limit infringements define the final moments
With 11 minutes remaining, Câmara took the field back to racing conditions as Dunne and León followed. Race Control soon showed Dunne the black-and-white flag for track limits before noting León and Colton Herta for track limits. Both drivers soon received 5-second time penalties.
At the front, Dunne fell out of DRS range to Câmara, who held a 1.1s lead with 7 minutes left. Dunne was soon also handed a 5-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, as Tsolov received a black-and-white flag for the same infraction. As the P2 and P3 drivers carried time penalties, Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov looked set to complete the podium.
DAMS Lucas Oil’s day ended as Bilinski retired in the pit lane. Meanwhile, Inthraphuvasak passed León for third as light rain began to fall. Through it all, despite losing the lead at the start, Câmara crossed the chequered flag first to take his second Feature Race win of the season. Inthraphuvasak and Tsolov completed the 2026 F2 Spa-Francorchamps Round Feature Race podium at the Belgian GP.
2026 F2 Belgian GP Feature Race results
