Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne wrapped up the third and final day of the F2 post-season test with plenty of positives. With his return to the team for a second campaign in 2026 now confirmed, the Irishman reflected with delight and satisfaction as he talked about how much he and the team had learned over the last three days.
Dunne said: “Pretty good. Overall we can be quite happy, I think Ollie’s [Goethe] laptime yesterday was a little bit quicker, so overall we are second quickest over the three days.”
“It’s a big improvement from the race weekend that’s for sure. We’ve gone from realistically struggling to put it in the top 10 to comfortably being in the top three on all three days.”
After a difficult end to his season in Abu Dhabi — finishing P8 in the Sprint Race and retiring from the Feature Race — he said the team made solid progress with their car. While he’d admitted that there’s still more pace to find, Dunne was satisfied with leaving that issue for another day as he called his test a “strong” one.
“We made some good improvements with the car. I feel a lot more comfortable, so naturally I am able to extract more myself. There is still a little bit more left in it today, but it’s testing, so I am happy to leave that out there. But overall, it has been a strong three days.”
Improvements found since the final round of the season
At the final round, Dunne qualified P11 — just outside the points — and looked to have struggled with one-lap and race pace throughout the weekend. When asked about Rodin’s objectives were for the test, Dunne said: “I think a lot of it was looking back on the race weekend and trying to make the car better,”
“I think all weekend we were just trying to find the sweet spot in comparison to how we normally are.”
He described the weekend as challenging in terms of pace. The Irishman explained how the three-day test functioned as a time to test setups that could benefit both at the Yas Marina Circuit and next season. Overall, Dunne was pleased with the outcome of his highly productive three-day test with Rodin.
“Qualifying and the race, it was quite a difficult weekend in terms of pace, and trying to figure out what that was. Also testing a couple of things, to make it better for here but also that you can bring forward to next year as well.”
“We got through a lot of stuff. I am very happy with the three days, it was very productive and I could not be much happier with what we did.”
Dunne views close times set to Goethe as a positive sign of progress
Having topped four out of the six sessions, Goethe clearly made a statement with his impressive pace. By setting a time close to the MP driver, Dunne saw this as a positive sign of progress from the weekend. “Ollie [Goethe] has been very quick this weekend, and through the test, so it’s nice to have someone like that to have a strong reference,” said Dunne.
“I am pretty sure he was in the fight for pole on the race weekend, so to be there with him, I think he and I were probably the two quickest over the three days, so to be there with him is a step in the right direction.”
“I think they may have a little bit of an upper hand but to be there with him, very happy.”
With the off-season now underway, it’ll be several months before on-track action resumes. As the 2026 F2 grid begins to take shape, the F2 post-season test has given us an early glimpse of what to expect next year. For Dunne, the break is a chance to recharge ahead of his second attempt at the coveted Formula 2 title in 2026.
“I think having a break now is nice, I have done a lot of laps in Abu Dhabi, so if I were to drive again I would like to go somewhere else.”
“It’s nice to have a break, when I get home, relax, spend time with my family. friends, with my girlfriend, chill out for new years, and then in the new year the work will start again.”
