Invicta Racing Team Principal James Robinson described relief as the overriding emotion after Rafael Câmara claimed his maiden F2 victory in Barcelona.
The Brazilian rookie started the Feature Race from pole for the second consecutive weekend, having also secured the top grid position in Monaco. This time, he converted that qualifying pace into victory and responded strongly after the disappointment of the previous round.
Câmara’s win also brought Invicta back into contention after a difficult run of results, with Robinson comparing the emotion to the relief he felt when the team secured the championship last season.
Bold strategy pays off for Câmara
Câmara’s victory was built around an extended opening stint on the soft tyres. The Invicta driver remained out for 22 laps before switching to the Hards for the final 15 tours of the race. Robinson praised both Câmara and his engineer for committing to the strategy and executing it successfully.
“It was a really, really excellent strategy from him and his engineer and executed to perfection,” he explained. “I know there was a few comments on social media at the end of last week about the relationship between Rafa [Câmara] and his engineer. But I think that could not be more wrong in terms of the relationship there. Rafa, his engineer and the whole team have an absolutely magnificent relationship. Rafa’s a brilliant part of the team. We feel very vindicated today that we were finally able to convert the pace into points.”
Despite the confidence within the team, Robinson conceded there was a period when he began to question whether the strategy would work for Câmara and Invicta at the F2 round in Barcelona. Alex Dunne continued to produce competitive lap times while fighting through traffic, while Câmara was only marginally quicker despite running in clean air.
“When Alex Dunne was still lapping in the low 1:32s whilst passing traffic and we were still lapping in the mid to low 32s in clean air, I’ve got to say, I did question the strategy call in my mind,” Robinson admitted.
Robinson nervous after pit stop at F2 Feature Race in Barcelona
Invicta had expected Câmara to emerge from the pits in third place, with only Gabriele Minì and Dunne ahead of him. Instead, the Brazilian rejoined in fifth behind Dino Beganovic, Rafael Villagómez, Minì and Dunne, leaving him with more work to do on track.
“The plan was not for him to come out behind Villagómez,” Robinson revealed. “The plan was for him to be clear of them in P3 and just have to deal with Minì and Dunne.
“I was a bit nervous, but then when we saw the first couple of sectors, he was half a second up per sector on his outlap and he’s still getting his tyres up to speed. I think at that point we felt that the pace delta was really strong. Of course, you’ve got to make the moves on track, and that’s not easy.”
Câmara used his tyre advantage to fight his way back to the front, with the race remaining green throughout. Robinson also credited the drivers involved for racing hard without making contact as Câmara moved through the leading group.
“We know that Alex is a resolute defender but both him, Gabriele, Dino, and Rafa Villagómez, raced very cleanly and fairly,” he said.
“Thanks to them for keeping it clean and also the whole field, there were no Safety Cars. I think it was a very meritocratic race in that respect.”
Difficult weekend for Dürksen
While one side of the Invicta garage celebrated victory, Joshua Dürksen endured a far more frustrating weekend. The Paraguayan originally qualified second but was handed a five-place grid penalty for a qualifying infringement. He subsequently left Barcelona without scoring any points.
Robinson acknowledged the contrasting fortunes inside the team but insisted Invicta’s confidence in Dürksen had not changed.
“The downside of this job is that you very rarely have an occasion where everybody is happy in the garage,” he said. “Only one car can win. Of course, we were hoping for much better from car two today.”
“He was running the same strategy as Nikola Tsolov and we know that Josh was very quick. He put a P2 on the road in quali. He was really, really unlucky with the grid penalty. He started on the Prime tyres, and they struggled the first few laps. Tsolov was seven seconds behind whoever was in front of him after about five or six laps, everybody was struggling.”
Despite Dürksen’s recent results, Robinson believes the pace he has shown in qualifying and race conditions remains clear.
“We have complete faith in Josh,” he continued. “He’s a really, really quick driver. He’s shown in the last two years in F2 that he’s very quick. He showed on Friday here that he’s very, very quick. He showed in the first few rounds with us that he’s very, very quick. He’s a very, very capable race driver, especially in race situations.”
Invicta targeting strong run at conventional circuits
F2 next heads to the Red Bull Ring, where Robinson expects Invicta to be competitive. After a challenging opening part of the season, which included several street circuits and unpredictable weekends, the Team Principal believes the upcoming run of more conventional venues can help Invicta build momentum.
“It’s a good track for us,” Robinson said. “We’ve often gone well around there.”
“We said after Monaco, having had a couple of really disappointing rounds, that we were really looking forward to having a few consistent rounds at conventional racetracks. The first four rounds of the season were all at street tracks, especially in Miami, Montreal, that were unplanned, and Monaco is Monaco. For us to now have a round of tracks we know very well, where we have good data, you’re not going to have as many wildcard events like you have in Monaco. We’ve really got an opportunity to get ahead of steam up and score really big points with both cars.”
