The twelfth round of the 2026 F2 season in Baku got off to a dominant start for Rodin Motorsport, with Martinius Stenshorne taking pole in the second qualifying session to secure a front-row lockout for the team across both Feature Races this weekend.
While the Norwegian finished second behind teammate Alex Dunne in Qualifying 1, the roles were reversed in the second session. Stenshorne strung together an impressive final effort, shooting to the top of the timesheets with a 1:53.728 to secure pole position in Qualifying 2.
Speaking in the post-Qualifying press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, Stenshorne reflected on his session and expressed his satisfaction with the team’s overall execution.
“Yeah, the lap was pretty good. Also I managed to get a good tow, it was perfect.”, he said. “Good strategy from the team as well to box and get one final lap on another set. So yeah, I think we really maximised our session. We improvised well as well with our strategy. So yeah, really happy.”
Having finished behind Dunne in the first session, Stenshorne explained that he found more grip and benefited from a lighter car as the fuel load decreased. Nonetheless, the Norwegian said he left it all out on track in the second session after Q1.
“Well, you find the limits and then it doesn’t change too much. Obviously, we go a bit quicker, a bit more grip. Cars are a bit lighter as well. So yeah, we take some learnings from Q1 into Q2 and leave it all out there.”
Looking to “bring home good points” for Rodin Motorsport
“Well, I think now we have a good starting point. So that makes life a bit easier, but still a long way to go. Two long races or three long races in total this weekend. So still a lot of work to do, but a good beginning.”, Stenshorne said when asked about his expectations for the rest of the weekend after such a strong start.
Starting on the front row for both races, the Rodin duo find themselves in a situation reminiscent of the start of the year, when their Melbourne Feature Race ended in disaster after the teammates collided with each other. Looking to avoid a repeat of the incident, the Norwegian has his sights set on bringing home a strong points haul for the team.
Stenshorne said: “Yeah, we started the year often at the front, so it’s good to finally be back, both of us. We have already been together at the front, and it hasn’t ended very well, so we will try not to replicate that, and try to have a good teamwork, both for tomorrow’s Feature Race and Sunday’s Feature Race, and try to stay out of issues and bring home good points for the team.”
While Rodin’s one-lap pace has been undeniably strong this year, race pace has been the team’s main area of weakeness.
When asked how confident he was that they could convert their strong one-lap pace into race pace, Stenshorne echoed similar sentiments to Dunne, saying: “Not too much to add, to be honest. We were doing a good job today, so hopefully we can do that again tomorrow and Sunday.”
“The team has been doing a good job so far, so let’s see. It’s difficult to predict too much in motorsport, but I’m looking forward to the races anyway.”
