In Baku’s first Feature Race of the weekend, Alex Dunne converted his pole into his first 2026 Formula 2 race win. From the start of the race, Dunne led the charge, bringing home a 1-2 for Rodin Motorsport when his team mate Martinius Stenshorne crossed the line in second.
The race win is the first of the season for the Irishman, having not won a race since his first two race wins as a rookie last year. It follows earlier success in Baku when Dunne battled to secure a podium spot in the Sprint Race earlier that day.
“Safe to say I’m pretty happy. It’s nice, to be honest there were times in the year where I questioned if it was even going to happen. For the pace to have been so strong so far this weekend, I think not only to have won but to have finished on the podium in the Sprint as well, so far we couldn’t have really asked for much more.”
These strong performances come at a good time for Dunne as Formula 2 hosts a weekend with three races, making up a “supersized” weekend in Azerbaijan.
“I think the team has done a really good job in turning it around: the pace last weekend, the pace so far this weekend has been phenomenal so as nice as it is for myself, I think just as much credit should go to them as it should to me.”
These positive results keep Rodin Motorsport third in the Teams’ Championship, only five points behind Invicta Racing in second, and 43 points behind Campos Racing.
However, the race proved to be a challenge when multiple drivers across the grid faced DNFs in a multi-car collision. The red flag was waved and the race put the race on pause for the marshals to remove stopped cars and debris.
“For me it (the red flag) didn’t change a whole lot, I think you kind of just reset and go again so it didn’t change the world for me to be honest.”
A race win brings Dunne back into the title fight, sitting only eight points behind championship leader Rafael Camara.
“We are solidly back in the fight which is really nice. To be honest three or four rounds ago I completely switched off from the championship and as far as I was concerned there was no way of even getting close but now we are more than close. So yeah, game on and get as much out of it tomorrow.”
With two race weekends left of the 2026 season after tomorrow’s second Feature Race, Dunne will be looking to continue this momentum and secure the Formula 2 title.
You can catch more of the Baku action tomorrow at 11am Local Time (GMT +4).
Image : Sam Bagnall via Getty Images
