Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and Maritnius Stenshorne dominated to claim pole and a double front-row lockout for both F2 Feature Races at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP, full report below.
The day started strongly for ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini, who topped Free Practice, with Alex Dunne and Nikola Tsolov completing the top three. After missing both races in Madrid, Colton Herta finished fourth, marking a solid start to the weekend for the American.
With an expanded weekend ahead, two 20-minute Qualifying sessions will take place today as the streets of Baku prepare to crown two pole-sitters. The first session will set the grid for the Sprint Race and Feature Race 1, while the second will set the grid for Saturday’s Feature Race 2.
Qualifying 1: Dunne claims long-awaited pole as Rodin locks out Feature Race 1 front row
The start of the session was delayed as track inspections were being conducted. As the session got underway, Oliver Goethe led the field onto the track. As drivers weaved to bring their tyres up to temperature, they continued to circulate around the track on their build laps.
Running on a different strategy to the rest of the field, Rafael Câmara headed onto the track at the back of the pack. However, the first driver to set a representative lap time was Goethe. The MP Motorsport set the chasing benchmark with a 1:59.374.
However, after a solid start to the weekend, Dunne catapulted to the top with a 1:55.383, while Maini slotted in behind with a 1:55.613. Seven points adrift from the championship leader, a 1:56.073 was only enough for Câmara to slot into sixth.
As traffic built up ahead of the next runs, several drivers struggled to find any improvements. While Tsolov appeared more than a second off the pace, Martinius Stenshorne improved to go second with a 1:55.416, whilst Noel León broke into the top three with a 1:55.517.
On the final runs of the session, yellow flags were momentarily brought out for Minì and Dunne, who locked up into Turn 1. Meanwhile, a snap of oversteer forced Tsolov to back out of an attempt. After a difficult first run, Câmara improved to go fifth with a 1:55.621.
However, as the chequered flag fell, few drivers managed to improve on their final laps, with Dunne securing his first pole position of the season. The Irishman will start alongside Stenshorne on the front row, completing a Rodin front-row lockout. Behind them, León finished Qualifying 1 in third.
Full F2 Qualifying 1 results from the 2026 Azerbaijan GP
Qualifying 2: Stenshorne takes pole in a Rodin dominant session
The second session got underway as Goethe led the field out once again. The first driver on a representative lap was Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. who crossed the line with a 1:56.960. Soon, the rest of the field began setting their banker laps for the session.
After a disastrous first session, Minì crossed the line to go to the top with 1:55.479. However, it was not long before drivers began improving, pushing the Italian further down the order. Firstly, Dunne catapulted to the top with a 1:54.483, before León pipped the Irishman to the top with a 1:54.477. After finishing fifth in the first session, Câmara found his way to the top with a 1:54.227 to take provisional pole.
Spinning out of Turn 13, Herta managed to keep his car out of the barriers and continue on. While some drivers opted to remain out on track, several others peeled into the pits to switch to a new set of Supersoft tyres.
With three minutes of the session remaining, both Campos cars stayed in the pits. With León hopping out of the car, the Mexican sat in second while Tsolov remained in fourth. Joining them, Câmara returned to the pit lane as well.
After finishing fourth in the first session, Maini improved to slot into second with a 1:54.418. With a blistering first sector, Mari Boya crossed the line with a 1:54.365 to push the ART driver down to third. Although Dunne shot the top with a 1:54.173, a powerful tow saw Stenshorne take pole position with a 1:53.728, achieving a double Rodin front-row lockout for both Feature Races as Câmara completed the top three.
