Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne crossed the line to claim his long-awaited first victory of the season during the F2 Feature Race 1 at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP, full report below.
Thursday proved a dominant day for Rodin Motorsport, with Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne claiming pole positions in Qualifying 1 and 2, respectively, to lock out the front row for both Feature Races. Earlier today, however, Dino Beganovic emerged victorious in the Sprint Race, securing back-to-back wins amid a tight and chaotic race.
After a charge through the field to finish on the podium in the morning, Dunne lined up on the front row alongside Stenshorne as his search for his first win continues.
Early drama as Montoya spins on his way to the grid
Sebastian Montoya spun on his way to the grid, forcing him to hop out of his car and ultimately preventing him from starting the first of two Feature Races. For the first stint, the majority of the field opted to start on Supersoft tyres, with the exception of Oliver Goethe, Colton Herta and Cian Shields, who were on Soft tyres.
A strong launch off the line saw Dunne lead the field down to Turn 1. Behind the Irishman, Noel León leaped into second momentarily before Stenshorne executed a cutback. Further down the field, however, debutant Hiyu Yamakoshi peeled into the pit lane.
By Lap 4, Dunne had settled into a rhythm out in front as the Irishman pulled a 1.4-second gap. Both DAMS Lucas Oil drivers were seen making progress through the field, as Beganovic and Bilinski sat in sixth and eleventh, respectively.
Tsolov triggers first pit stops of the race
On Lap 7, Nikola Tsolov led a train of cars into the pit lane for their mandatory pit stops. Unfortunately for the Bulgarian, he lost several positions due to a slow pit stop and rejoined behind Joshua Dürksen as they headed back out on track.
Several front runners followed suit, with Stenshorne, León and Mari Boya next into the pits as Dunne continued for another lap. However, Friday around the streets of Baku continued to go downhill for Boya as the Spaniard stopped at the side of the track, deploying the first safety car of the race.
Dunne and Câmara soon pitted for their mandatory pit stop under the safety car. On Lap 11, Goethe led the field back racing, as Beganovic and Stenshorne lunged down the inside of Câmara. Meanwhile, the stewards handed Kush Maini a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Red flag for multi-car pile-up
Chaos unfolded further down the field at the restart as several drivers were involved in a multi-car pile-up. As such, the incident resulted in seven drivers out of the race. Once the race resumed under timed conditions, Goethe led the field once again for a rolling start.
Câmara lost positions to Stenshorne and León as the Brazilian sat in sixth. Although Goethe was the only driver left to pit, Dunne looked to chase the MP Motorsport driver down. Heading down the pit straight with DRS open, the Irishman sailed past Goethe to take the lead of the race.
With clean air out in front, Dunne pulled a 3.7-second gap to Stenshorne, who sat in second. As it stood, Dunne, Stenshorne, Beganovic, León and Câmara completed the top five.
However, as the clock ticked down to zero, Alex Dunne claimed a long-awaited first victory of the season, as Stenshorne crossed the line to complete a Rodin one-two finish, while Beganovic rounded out the podium.
