Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne continues to impress on the streets of Baku, with the Irishman storming from tenth to third in today’s F2 Sprint Race.
After a dominant Qualifying for Dunne and Rodin, which saw the team sweep both sessions to secure a double front-row lockout for the Feature Races, the Irishman showcased strong race pace as he made rapid progress through the field during the early stages of the race.
With this podium, Dunne now closes the gap to Gabriele Minì ahead of him in the Drivers’ Standings, with the 20 year-old now just seven points behind the Italian in third. Starting both Feature Races from the front row, Dunne has a strong opportunity to break into the top three in the standings this weekend.
Dunne felt Rodin were “missing a little bit” compared to Beganovic and van Hoepen
Speaking in the post-Sprint press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, the Alpine-backed driver reflected on his race, saying: “Yeah, it was a really good start. I think Noel and Martinius were fighting through Turn 1 and I managed to get both of them on the exit.”
“And then in Turn 3, I think it was a good move, but it wasn’t necessarily planned. I think my brakes were a bit cold, so when I hit the brakes, I didn’t slow down as much as I had anticipated. And I ended up arriving to the apex a lot quicker than what I wanted. But it worked out, and I managed to just keep it out of the wall, so it was okay.”
Nonetheless, Dunne walked away from the race with plenty of positives to take forward. With focus now shifting to the first of two Feature Races later today, he said they will look to make incremental gains in race pace, having felt they were missing compared to Dino Beganovic and Laurens van Hoepen, who finished in first and second, respectively.
“But no, it was a strong race, I think. Pace-wise, it looked pretty good. I managed to get to P3 quite early on. I think I picked everyone off quite quickly and got to P3 a lot earlier than what I would have expected if I thought we were going to move forward.”
“But then once I was in P3, I kind of felt like I got stuck a little bit. Laurens and Dino were pretty quick. I think we were evenly matched at times. But for the most part, I felt like I was maybe missing a little bit of pace to them. So maybe there’s something we can do to improve the pace later on in the race.”
“We’re in a good direction” says Dunne after charging through the field
“Yeah, I’m excited. I think, obviously, pole is the best place to start. And yesterday as well and after this morning, I think we’re in a good place. The pace clearly is very strong.”, Dunne said when asked how optimistic he was feeling heading into this afternoon’s race.
“Martinius has finished P4 in the sprint as well, so we both move forward together. So I think it should be an exciting one. I definitely think there’s a couple of things still that we can do to improve the race pace to get a little bit more out of it. But for sure, we’re in a good direction.”
Starting both races ahead of his championship rivals, Dunne has put himself in a strong position to make significant gains in the standings.
“I’m not looking at the championship lead specifically. But, you know, I think after Madrid, I felt like there was a chance of making something happen.”, the Irishman said. “So I’m going to make sure that I leave nothing out there. And if the two races go the way I think they can, then we should be right in the fight.”
Looking to capitalise on both front-row starts
When asked by Pit Debrief how he plans to balance risk versus reward this weekend, particularly with the margins so tight, Dunne referenced a famous quote as he looks to capitalise on his strong starting positions and convert them into further success.
He said: “I think a famous person once said, no risk, full push. So I think that’s probably a good way to go about it. Obviously, you know, Baku is a tricky track. There’s a lot of safety cars. You’re at high speed, close to walls, so anything can happen.”
“But I think at least on my side, I’m in a very good starting point for both races, which takes a lot of the difficulty out of it. So I think as long as we have good pace and can manage the pit stops and stuff well, we should be all right.”
A decisive move that earned him another podium
Throughout the race, Dunne made a series of decisive and confident overtakes to carve his way through the field and ultimately secure his seventh podium of the 2026 season.
Reflecting on his overtakes, the Alpine-backed driver said: “I went for most of the moves that I could go for, so I wouldn’t say I was necessarily more cautious. Of course, you don’t want to get a grid penalty or anything for later on.”
“But I think as a driver, if you always go into a race worrying about how you can affect the next one, then you’re just going to put yourself in a difficult spiral, and you’ll probably go backwards rather than forwards. You know yourself to be careful and not do silly things, but at the same time, you don’t let it affect how you drive.”
Navigating an early and late-race safety car
On top of that, both an early and late-race safety car added another layer of unpredictability to the race. Reflecting on the safety car restarts, the Irishman was pleased with how he handled both, noting that they had not been a strong point for him in recent weekends.
“Both of my restarts were actually really strong, which is good because I think in the last couple of weekends, my restarts haven’t been something that have been amazing, so I think it was good that they were so strong, both of them today.”
At a track where safety car deployments are common, Dunne explained the mechanics behind navigating a restart around the streets of Baku.
He added: “Obviously, it’s tricky because we have such a long straight before T1, so the tyres cool down, the brakes cool down, and it can be quite tricky to manage. Sometimes you go into Turn 1 a little bit blind after a restart, not really sure what the car is going to do and what the brakes are going to do, but for both of them, the brakes worked, which is good, so it was fine.”
Feeling confident as Rodin continues to make progress with race pace
During the European leg of the season, the Irishman was vocal about the team’s struggles with race pace, which often prevented them from challenging their rivals for victory. In recent rounds, however, he feels they have made significant progress.
“I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s now been back-to-back races where I’ve kind of felt back to normal again.”, he said. “I think at the beginning of the year, when the pace was strong, it wasn’t an uncommon thing for me to come from the back end of the top 10 to be fighting for a podium in the sprint race.”
“I think up until this weekend, we haven’t really had the pace to do that for a long time. So to be back kind of in that window, let’s say, for this morning, was really, really nice. And like I said, off the back of Madrid, the pace in both races there was really good as well. So I think the team have done a really good job in focusing on the areas that can be improved.”
While Dunne has continued to impress with his consistency, as proven by his seven podiums this year, he remains in search of a first victory of the season. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old heads into both Feature Races with confidence and hopes to deliver a strong result for both himself and the team.
“I’ve tried my best to make sure I can improve and get the most out of it as well. So yeah, I’m feeling good. The pace is clearly strong. So hopefully, we can come home with a good result today and tomorrow.”
