Invicta Racing’s Rafael Câmara stormed to pole position after an impressive final effort during Qualifying at the 2026 F2 Monaco GP, full report below.
After Thursday’s Free Practice session, Gabriele Minì topped the timesheets, leading an Alpine-backed top three as Kush Maini and Alex Dunne followed closely behind. However, attention now shifts to a split-qualifying session format to see who will claim pole position on the streets of Monaco. At the Principality, the fourth Qualifying session of the season will see drivers split into two groups: Group A consisting of the odd-numbered cars and Group B the even-numbered cars. Each group will have a 16-minute session to set their fastest lap.
The fastest overall driver will claim pole position for Sunday’s Feature Race, while the remaining drivers from that group fill the odd-numbered grid slots. Drivers from the other group will then fill the even-numbered grid slots based on their finishing order in their session.
Group A: Câmara tops session after impressive redemption effort
For the first sixteen-minute session, the odd-numbered cars first headed out on track. While the majority of the group left the pit lane for their preparatory laps, DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic was the sole driver left in the pits. Getting temperatures into their tyres, all drivers from the group were now on track ahead of the first representative lap times of the session.
With ten minutes left on the clock, Rafael Câmara was the first driver to set off on a fast lap. Although he managed to set a lap time, the Brazilian clipped the wall out of the final corner, sustaining damage to the front-left suspension of his car. However, it was not long before last year’s polesitter Alex Dunne found his way to the top of the timings with a 1:22.427. Slotting behind the Irishman in P2 was Ritomo Miyata with a 1:22.737, three tenths behind Dunne.
Out in front, an impressive second effort from Beganovic saw the Swede catapult to the top with a 1:21.947.
Red flag for Bennett at Turn 1
As drivers continued to push, red flags were soon waved for Trident’s John Bennett, who locked up his tyres heading down to the first corner. However, after an impressive repair on Câmara’s car, the reigning Formula 3 Champion managed to rejoin the session as three minutes remained.
As it stood, Beganovic, Minì, Dunne, Bennett and Miyata completed the top five. On the final representative laps of the session, Câmara was in search of redemption. Having lit up the timings but hit the wall, Noel León still found his way to the top with a 1:20.923. Next across the line, Dunne’s final effort was enough to slot himself into P2 with a 1:21.033.
Despite all the uncertainties and having damaged his car early into the session, Câmara topped the timings with a 1:20.923 in an impressive final effort.
Group B: Tsolov tops timing but misses out on pole
With Câmara’s benchmark, Group B headed out on track for the next sixteen-minute session to try and beat the Brazilian’s benchmark. Heading out of the tunnel, Kush Maini attempted to overtake Laurens van Hoepen and sent the Dutch driver spinning around. Unfortunately for the Trident driver, he found himself stuck on the kerb. The incident then triggered the second red flag of the day.
With eleven minutes left on the clock, drivers headed out on track once again for their first representative laps. Setting the benchmark, Nikola Tsolov crossed the line with a 1:23.096. It was not long before Colton Herta found his way to the top with a 1:22.672. Lighting up the timings, Maini was on a blistering lap with two purple sectors. After a premature end to his practice session yesterday, Oliver Goethe slotted into P2 with a 1:21.673.
Tsolov’s next effort saw significant improvement as the Bulgarian slotted back into P2 with a 1:21.670. However, with two minutes left on the clock, drivers started to embark on their final laps of the session. Lighting up the timings, a final effort from Martinius Stenshorne saw him catapult to the top with a 1:21.274. However, with the final driver left on track, Tsolov topped the timings in Group B with a 1:21.053.
As such, for Sunday’s Feature Race, Câmara and Tsolov will line up on the front-row.
