Alex Dunne tops F2 standings after second win

Alex Dunne  

Offaly's Alex Dunne has taken his second victory in the FIA Formula 2 series as the Rodin Motorsport driver took the chequered flag at the iconic Imola track on Sunday morning.

With a perfect race strategy and following a string of super overtaking manoeuvres the McLaren junior driver moved into the lead on lap 27 of 35. With a clear track ahead he went on to finish ahead of the Hitech duo of Luke Browning and Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy driver Dino Beganovic, who completed the podium.

Dunne's early pit stop proved crucial and when the Safety Car (Lap 15) brought the pack together he then made the overtakes that delivered his second feature race win following his win in the second round in Bahrain.

The Clonbullogue teenager, who now tops the F2 standings by six points from Browning, was almost lost for words. "I don't even know what to say, so far we have won two out of three feature races, I couldn't be happier to be honest, especially to do it (win) in a place like Imola, I won here before in F4, to do in now in F2 feels extra special. There's no place like it when you see all the fans and all the people waving Irish flags waving at me, yeah, there's no place like it."

He added, "The beginning of the race was definitely tricky. Initially, I wasn't quite sure if we had the pace to win but obviously, in the end, we did. To be honest a lot of that race win is thanks to my mechanics, my pit stop was really good, we managed to jump Arvid (Lindblad) and someone else in the pit lane and I think that is what put us in the position to win the race."

On leading the championship he remarked, "Leading the championship is cool but its rather leading at the end of the of the 14 weekends of the year is what matters." 

Dunne, who picked up four points from Saturday's Sprint Race where he took fifth place, has a quick turnaround with round five this coming weekend in Monte Carlo.