APEX RACEWIRE Newsroom
Câmara Penalised for Red Bull Ring Sprint Crash as Tsolov Inherits Point
A post-race five-second penalty for Rafael Câmara has demoted the Invicta driver to ninth in the Austria Sprint Race, promoting Nikola Tsolov into the final points position.
By Nadia van Leeuwen - 2026-06-27T17:48:32.000Z - 2 min read
Rafael Câmara’s initial sixth-place finish in the Red Bull Ring Sprint Race was overturned following a post-race steward investigation into an opening-lap collision. The Invicta driver received a five-second time penalty after being held responsible for triggering a multi-car incident at Turn 2. The sanction demoted the Brazilian to ninth in the final classification, stripping him of points and altering the bottom half of the top ten.
Trouble unfolded almost immediately after lights out as the grid surged toward the second corner. Câmara misjudged his approach and tagged the rear of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s ART Grand Prix entry. The contact spun Inthraphuvasak around in the middle of the pack, leaving following drivers with nowhere to go on the narrow track section.
Inthraphuvasak was hit by oncoming cars in the ensuing chain reaction, ending his race on the spot. The collision also eliminated Colton Herta of Hitech, Invicta’s Joshua Dürksen, MP Motorsport driver Oliver Goethe, and AIX Racing’s Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. Race Direction allowed the Sprint to continue, opting to examine the cause of the crash once cars crossed the line.
An official bulletin issued jointly by the FIA and Formula 2 after the race confirmed Câmara's culpability for the opening-lap disorder. Stewards determined that Câmara’s error directly caused the initial impact with Inthraphuvasak. Adding five seconds to Câmara's total race duration dropped his final position below Roman Bilinski, Kush Maini, and Nikola Tsolov.
Tsolov proved to be the ultimate beneficiary of the post-race penalty. Having narrowly avoided the opening-turn mayhem, the Campos driver was left down in 15th position when the race settled. Tsolov mounted a determined fightback through the field to cross the line ninth, which was subsequently elevated to eighth once Câmara’s penalty took effect.
Gaining that solitary point provides a significant boost for Tsolov’s title aspirations. The Bulgarian driver now sits nine points adrift of championship leader Gabriele Minì in the standings. Minì stayed clear of trouble to secure fifth place for MP Motorsport, retaining his championship lead while his closest pursuers fought over the remaining positions.
Up front, Trident’s John Bennett took victory in the Sprint Race, holding off Prema driver Sebastian Montoya in second and Van Amersfoort’s Rafael Villagómez in third. Rodin’s Alex Dunne finished fourth ahead of Minì, with DAMS driver Roman Bilinski and ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini occupying sixth and seventh in the revised results.