Has It Now Become A Three Way Championship In F2?
Last week out in Madrid, Dams Lucas Oil driver Dino Beganovic won his first feature race and became the first F2 driver to win around the Madring. After the amazing weekend around Madrid, the championship at the top had now closed down between Nikola Tsolov and Rafael Câmara to only seven points. But who would be leading the championship out of Baku?
Sprint Race
As lights went out with Trident driver Van Hoepen starting P2 and championship leader Nikola Tsolov on pole, the start saw Tsolov maintain position with Dino Beganovic making a move on Van Hoepen around the outside of Turn 1. However, going into Turn 2, championship contender Rafael Câmara locked up and crashed into Prema driver Mari Boya leading to Câmara getting a 10 second time penalty. On Lap 4, we went back to green where Montaya and Câmara were battling for 4th down to Turn 3 where Câmara was able to take position. On Lap 6, a battle for first place emerged with Dino Beganovic clearing Nikola Tsolov on the straight down to Turn 1 and into the lead of the race. But would Dino be able to defend?
On Lap 10, Nikola Tsolov lost another position to Trident driver Van Hoepen after a mistake made and a costly mistake that we would soon see on Lap 13 as Alex Dunne and Câmara were able to pass him. Things were also not looking good for Tsolov's teammate León who lost places to Bilinski and Mini and out of the points. Rodin driver Stenshorne who would be starting on pole for Feature Race 1, was also making moves on Lap 17 on Montoya and Tsolov moving up to 5th place after starting P9. On the same lap, a yellow flag came out after Invicta driver Durksen had crashed into the barriers at Turn 1 eventually leading to a safety car. We got going again on the final lap which ended up in a massive pile up at Turn 1 with drivers: Míni, Miyata, Leon, Villagómez, Fittipaldi and Câmara who eventually got going again. This ended under a yellow flag with Dino Beganovic taking back to back wins and Van Hoepen and Dunne rounding off the podium. Tsolov was able to extend his gap to 11 points. But with two feature races would come out on top?
Feature Race 1
For Feature Race 1, it was an all Rodin Motorsport front row with Dunne on pole and Stenshorne alongside him. As lights went out Alex Dunne and Stenshorne maintained their positions with Noel León having a good start up into P3 with Câmara up into P4. On Lap 7, saw the first few drivers making their mandatory pitstop including championship leader Nikola Tsolov followed by Van Hoepen, Inthraphuvasak, Villagómez, Dürksen and Fittipaldi which ended terribly for Tsolov after a bad pit stop which led to him tumbling down the order to P18. As this was happening, Câmara was able to take the podium position away from León. After this, the next lap saw PREMA driver Mari Boya stop on track leading to a safety car with many drivers except MP driver Oliver Goethe making their pitstop. How would the safety car restart end up?
On Lap 12, we got going green again which wouldn't last long as a massive pile up happened between many drivers such as Dürksen, Miyata, Van Hoepen, Bennett, Shields and championship leader Nikola Tsolov leading to a red flag and now the race being timed. After the red flag, racing got going again with Goethe still maintaining his position with Alex Dunne closing in behind him. For championship contender Rafael Câmara, he had lost a few places and almost got into contact with León and Stenshorne.
With 10 minutes to go, Alex Dunne had taken the lead of the race down to Turn 1 with Oliver Goethe in P2 and Stenshorne in P3. But could anybody close down on Alex Dunne behind? With 6 minutes to go sadly for Oliver Goethe a lock up into Turn 1 making Stenshorne, Beganovic and León all taking position off him. At the end of all the feature Race 1, Lex Dunne won Feature Race 1 leading to crucial points in the championship with his teammate Stenshorne and winner of the sprint race Beganovic rounding off the podium with a drag race behind to the line with Rafael Câmara now taking the championship lead after an overtake on León.
Feature Race 2
For Feature Race 2, it was again an all Rodin front row with Alex Dunne in P2 and Stenshorne on pole with Stenshorne and Dunne holding their positions with Rafael Câmara in third. A brief safety car came out after Bilinski had spun John Bennett round at Turn 1 after going three wide with Villagómez. At restart on Lap 2, Stenshorne extended his lead whilst a battle between Câmara and Dunne for p2 came into effect with León right behind them. On Lap 6, Hitech driver Miyata had stopped on track with yellow flags waved as Alex Dunne, Maini, Montoya and Beganovic all came into the pits. Eventually this would lead to a virtual safety car meaning no other drivers were able to come into the pits. However on Lap 9, more yellow flags were waved after Inthraphuvasak had gone off with race leader Stenshorne coming into the pits followed by León, Boya, Dürksen and Mini. For Alex Dunne he was able to take race lead with Stenshorne behind him. A brief VSC came out again and we went green again as race leader Câmara came into the pits as well as championship contender Nikola Tsolov where Câmara came out ahead of Dunne and Tsolov behind Stenshorne. As we went down to Turn 1 on Lap 12, Dunne took the race lead off Câmara. However, Alex Dunne would soon get a 5 second penalty for crossing the line at pit entry on Lap 14 so would he be able to hold the lead? With 7 laps to go, Tsolov took the last podium position off Stenshorne and was now closing down on his two championship rivals Câmara and Dunne ahead of him after starting down in P11. On the penultimate lap, all three drivers at the top were within DRS of each other down to Turn 1 but with Dunne’s 5 second penalty Câmara took his third win of the season and lead the championship out of Baku followed by Tsolov in P2 and Dunne in P3.
Leaving Baku, there are only 7 points between Câmara and Tsolov in the championship with Alex Dunne closing the gap, only 18 points behind Câmara. So is it now a three way championship battle?
Article Written by Catherine Rammelt ©️Catherine Rammelt 2026
