Rafael Câmara Leaves It Late To Beat Santiago Ramos To Pole Position In Imola

Rafael Câmara made it three consecutive Pole Positions to start the 2025 season after leaving it late to take the top spot from Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos at dramatic Imola Qualifying.

The TRIDENT driver completed a 1:32.206 with his final lap of the day to take pole, beating Ramos by over two-tenths, with his teammate Noah Stromsted ending up third.

Câmara picked up from where he left off in Free Practice to go up to P1 early on. The TRIDENT rookie’s 1:32.909 was 0.233s quicker than PREMA Racing’s Brando Badoer in second.

Several drivers were able to improve on their next flying attempts, but the majority of the grid opted to abort those laps, choosing to pit for a second set of Medium tyres instead.

With just over 16 minutes remaining, the drivers returned to the track and there were improvements across the board, as several climbed up the timesheets.

But it was Badoer who went fastest on a 1:32.894, to eclipse Câmara by just 0.015s.

The Italian completed his lap at the right time as the Red Flags were waved moments later, with Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak stuck in the gravel at Acque Minerali.

Running resumed with just over 11 minutes to go and 25 out of remaining 29 drivers went out, as all three TRIDENT drivers remained in the pit lane alongside Callum Voisin.

As the times came through, Ramos went fastest on a 1:32.442 for Van Amersfoort Racing, with Tuukka Taponen his closest challenger in P2, 0.092s.

But as they completed their laps, the quartet in the pit lane returned to the track, and Câmara completed his final attempt to go to provisional pole with a 1:32.206.

The Brazilian beat Ramos by 0.236s to seal the first Aramco Pole Position Award as Stromsted also left it late to go to third. Taponen wound up in fourth for ART Grand Prix ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski.

They were followed by the PREMA pairing of Ugo Ugochukwu and Noel León, with Nikola Tsolov and Mari Boya in P9 and P10 for Campos, respectively. Tim Tramnitz ended up in 11th for MP Motorsport ahead of teammate Bruno del Pino.

This means del Pino will lead an all-MP front row when we reverse the grid in the Imola Sprint Race, which is set to start at 10:00 local time tomorrow.