Alex Dunne snatched the championship lead after climbing from fifth to score his second Formula 2 feature race win at Imola.
The Rodin Motorsport driver finished 6.6 seconds clear of Williams Academy member Luke Browning, who moved into second in the standings, while Ferrari Academy’s Dino Beganovic completed the podium.
Dunne passed Hitech GP duo Beganovic and Browning shortly after his mandatory pitstop, but he still had to overtake several cars that had stayed out following a mid-race safety car before taking victory.
Prema’s Sebastian Montoya stalled from second the grid on the formation lap, while ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins did not move away from the second row when the race got underway. Having initially qualified fourth, Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli was left with a clear path to challenge Beganovic, who made use of his first pole to lead the first lap. Dunne, meanwhile ran fourth behind Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad.
The front four pitted to switch from soft to hard compound tyres on lap six. Beganovic emerged still ahead of his pursuers, while Dunne leapfrogged Lindblad and Fornaroli, the latter delayed after being held in his pitbox due to other cars heading down the pitlane.
Browning was the biggest mover during the pitstop phase. He jumped ahead of DAMS’s Jak Crawford when the pair made their stops on the next tour, and emerged back on the circuit just in front of Beganovic and Dunne with the net lead.
Beganovic tried to drive around the outside of Browning at Tosa but was run out of road, allowing Dunne to sweep by. Dunne then used his DRS at the start of the next tour to pass Browning, and he remained ahead for the next five laps before the safety car was deployed – due to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez retiring following a collision with Trident’s Sami Megatounif.
With still half of the race remaining, drivers running the alternate strategy opted not to make their mandatory pitstops, leaving Dunne in seventh when the track returned to green on lap 19. He soon made up two spots, however, while his still-to-pit team-mate Amaury Cordeel kept Browning behind him for five laps.
Browning was still within touching distance of Dunne after finding a way by Cordeel, but Dunne quickly dispatched Ritomo Miyata, Pepe Marti and Joshua Duerksen, giving him an unassailable advantage by the time he claimed the outright lead with eight laps remaining.
Beganovic came home a second behind Browning, with Red Bull junior Lindblad finishing fourth. Fornaroli took fifth ahead of Crawford and MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe, while Montoya recovered from a pitlane start to eighth.
Pre-race championship leader Richard Verschoor climbed from 19th on the grid to ninth ahead of Megatounif.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
