Alex Dunne becomes first Irish Formula 2 winner at Bahrain Feature Race

WINNER:Alex Dunne has become Ireland’s first ever Formula 2 race winner, finishing with eight seconds to spare over nearest rival Luke Browning, as he took victory in the Bahrain feature race on Sunday. Pic: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Alex Dunne has become Ireland’s first ever Formula 2 race winner, finishing with eight seconds to spare over nearest rival Luke Browning, as he took victory in the Bahrain feature race on Sunday.

Dunne – a McLaren Junior Driver from Offaly – made the step up to Formula 2 this year after a solid debut season in Formula 3, which he finished 14th in the championship, scoring podiums during the sprint races at Barcelona, Spain and Monza, Italy.

Having qualified fourth for the Bahrain feature race on Saturday, Dunne managed to jump Roman Stanek and Rafael Villagomez on the opening lap.

Dunne fought on, managing to catch and pass and race leader Leonardo Fornaroli on lap seven, as the Italian struggled with tyre wear.

While the rest of the top five all dived into the pits on lap 15, Dunne opted to stay out an additional lap before making his stop.

When he emerged from the pits, the 19-year-old was in second, behind Red Bull junior starlet Arvid Lindblad. With his tyres cold, Dunne found himself under pressure from Victor Martins; the two left fighting for the lead after Lindblad boxed on Lap 18.

He managed to stretch his gap to Martins from 1.3 seconds to 3.7 over the course of the next five laps, while Williams Junior Driver Luke Browning showed great pace to finish with the fastest lap as he nabbed second from polesitter Fornaroli, but he couldn’t cut the gap to Dunne in the closing stages.

The Irishman held out, finishing with an 8.2 second lead over Browning. McLaren CEO Zak Brown was there to congratulate him after the race, with Dunne now up to second in the standings – just one point behind championship leader Fornaroli.

It was the first F2 feature race of the season after the race in Australia was cancelled due to inclement weather. Dunne scored ninth – one place outside the points – in the Australian sprint, and 19th in yesterday’s Bahrain sprint.

The next race of the season is set to take place next weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the sprint race on Saturday, April 19 before the feature on Sunday, April 20.