Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne took a stunning second Formula 2 feature race victory of the season at Imola on Sunday, finishing ahead of the Hitech pair of Luke Browning and Dino Beganovic. After the race, Dunne spoke to Feeder Series about how becoming a consistent frontrunner in the series has changed his approach to race management.

By Martin Lloyd

Dunne’s second win in three feature races thus far catapulted him into the lead of the drivers’ standings. He also extended his streak of points finishes to five, four being top-five finishes.

Dunne endured a difficult F3 campaign in 2024 with MP Motorsport in which he scored only two podiums, both in sprint races. The McLaren junior’s move up to F2 this year has revitalised him.

“I’ve definitely found myself in a much different position to last year,” Dunne told Feeder Series in the post-race press conference. “There are probably a couple of things that I still needed to understand a little bit better. 

“Coming from last year, I’m now in a position where winning the championship is a possibility.” 

Dunne had qualified fifth on Friday, but he was immediately promoted to fourth when second-placed Sebastián Montoya stalled at the start of the formation lap. The Irishman gained another place when Victor Martins stalled at the race start in front of him from the third grid slot, with Dunne’s fast reactions preventing a collision. 

Martins’ stall slowed Dunne’s getaway nonetheless, and Arvid Lindblad passed the Irishman into Turn 1 as Leonardo Fornaroli and polesitter Beganovic battled for the lead in front of them. The leading sextet for the first six laps – Beganovic, Fornaroli, Arvid Lindblad, Dunne, Jak Crawford and Browning – had all started on supersoft tyres, with those directly behind starting on the slower soft tyres and aiming to pit much later in the race.

The top three were covered by half a second at points on laps five and six, just before they and Dunne all pitted. Crucially, Dunne’s Rodin crew were faster than their Campos and Invicta counterparts, allowing him to jump ahead of Fornaroli and Lindblad.

Dunne remained ahead of Crawford but behind Browning when they pitted on the following tour. Dunne made an unsuccessful lunge on Beganovic at Tamburello as they chased down the Briton, whose tyres were still cold. 

Beganovic’s move on Browning around the outside at the hairpin Tosa corner was ambitious. Beganovic took to the grass, which gave Dunne the chance to take a net second place. At the start of lap nine, the Irishman made the move on Browning for the net race lead, which he never relinquished. 

Five laps later, Rafael Villagómez and Sami Meguetounif collided at the Tamburello chicane. The front-left tyre of the Van Amersfoort car was dislodged and Villagómez was forced to pull over exiting the corner complex, resulting in a safety car intervention. This hurt the drivers starting on softs, who either had to pit much earlier than planned or stay out in hopes of pitting during a late-race safety car but inevitably lose ground in the meantime. 

Dunne and Browning were therefore battling for the win when the race resumed at the end of lap 18, but first, they had to pass six drivers in front of them who had not yet stopped. While Dunne proved adept at clearing the slower runners, Browning had more difficulty. He spent four laps behind Dunne’s Rodin teammate, Amaury Cordeel, which helped his rival escape. 

Dunne passed the final soft-tyre starter, Joshua Dürksen, for the lead on lap 27 while Browning remained fifth. Three laps later, when Dürksen finally pitted and Browning passed Pepe Martí for second, Dunne had a five-second lead, and he went on to secure his second victory of the season by 6.592s over the Williams junior.

Dunne explained to Feeder Series that he had changed his approach to such situations as attempting to pass slower cars. The day before he took his maiden F2 victory in the Sakhir feature race, he was involved in three separate collisions in the sprint race. 

“When you’re in those tricky situations, you need to relax and be patient and be calm,” Dunne continued. “Last year I wasn’t really in that position. I was always in a position where I just needed to send it and hope for the best. 

“That was the approach at the beginning of the year, and now I’ve quickly realised that that’s not going to work when you’re fighting for a championship, and that’s why I’ve tried to rein it in a little bit.” 

Beganovic took the final spot on the podium, surviving late pressure from Lindblad, with Fornaroli finishing fifth. Crawford was sixth after his sprint race success on Saturday, with Oliver Goethe seventh. Montoya finished an impressive eighth after his stall, with Richard Verschoor salvaging ninth after he qualified 19th on Friday. Meguetounif scored his first F2 point by finishing 10th. 

With his victory, Dunne took the championship lead on 64 points ahead of Browning on 58, while previous leader Verschoor is three points further back on 55 after a difficult weekend. Fornaroli has scored in every race in 2025 and sits fourth on 52 points, ahead of Lindblad, fifth on 45 points. Browning’s and Beganovic’s podiums have given Hitech a one-point lead over Campos Racing in the teams’ standings.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency