Following pole position for Feature Race 1 at the 2026 F2 Azerbaijan GP round, Alex Dunne qualified 2nd on the grid for Feature Race 2 on Saturday. Rodin Motorsport teammate Martinius Stenshorne took the honours this time, with the Norwegian 2nd behind the Irishman in Qualifying 1.
Times quickly tumbled in Qualifying 2, with the Alpine Junior going P3 on the first set of attempts, ending up behind Rafael Câmara and Noel León. He was 0.256s off the Brazilian in P1 at that stage.
On his final attempt at the end, the Irishman found 0.310s to jump the Invicta man. However, behind him, Stenshorne put in a stonking middle sector, taking pole by a full 0.445s.
Alex Dunne on his Qualifying 2 lap to take P2 for Feature Race 2 at 2026 F2 Azerbaijan GP
Speaking to Pit Debrief and other media outlets post-qualifying, the two-time F2 race winner conceded his lap was not as good as his Qualifying 1 one.
On that last attempt, he also lacked a significant tow, although it did not matter as Rodin teammate Martinius Stenshorne was a step above everyone else at the end.
“Yeah, I think I was probably a little bit too far behind [for a big tow].
“I think in general, my lap in Q2 was pretty bad as well. My lap in Q1 was obviously quite good, but in Q2 there was a couple of mistakes.
“But I think in general, it’s a difficult track. So to do two perfect laps across both sessions is always going to be difficult.
“In the end, I think to be on the front row is not the end of the world.”
Street circuits and an enjoyable qualifying format
Ever since competing at Macau in 2023, Alex Dunne has proven to be extremely rapid on street circuits. His first pole in F2 came at Monaco last year, and he has been a regular top 5 qualifier at these type of tracks.
Baku is not your average street circuit, however. Heavy braking into turns 1, 3 and 15, as well as high-speed corners which are sketchy in F2 cars, provides them an enormous challenge.
With two qualifying sessions at the two 2026 F2 Azerbaijan GP, Alex Dunne gave the format a big thumbs up as well.
“Yeah, I think it’s something I enjoy, pushing to the limit, being close to the walls.
“I think this track is also different where you’re approaching a lot of heavy braking zones from very high speed, which you don’t necessarily have on a street circuit.
“So I think it tests you in a lot of different areas, but it’s really enjoyable and it’s really cool.”
The “fun” of having two qualifying sessions
“I think I said at the beginning of the weekend that qualifying is always something that a driver enjoys the most. So the fact that we had two goes at it made it a lot of fun as well.
“I think it was nice that whatever you had in, granted I didn’t do the best lap in the world in Q2, still whatever you did in Q1, you had an opportunity to go out again, push the limits again and learn and improve on what you did in Q1.
“So yeah, definitely it’s a lot of fun. I think if we could do it all the time, I’d like to keep this format because it’s really enjoyable.
“But the track is super cool as well.”
