Alexander Dunne is firmly back in the Formula 2 title fight. The Rodin Motorsport driver turned pole position into victory in Feature Race 1 of Round 12 in Baku, with team-mate Martinius Stenshorne completing a Rodin one-two. Nikola Tsolov’s afternoon ended early: the Bulgarian was one of several drivers eliminated in a Turn 3 incident that halted the race.

Safety Car, red flag and a new leader

Dunne held the lead at the start, but the race was soon turned upside down. Tsolov was the first of the front-runners to make his pit stop. When Mari Boya stopped after Turn 2, the Safety Car came out and Dunne and Rafael Câmara pitted behind it, handing Oliver Goethe the lead for a spell.

Shortly afterwards, an incident at Turn 3 took out a group of cars – Tsolov along with Joshua Duerksen, Cian Shields and John Bennett – and the red flag was shown so the track could be cleared.

After the restart, Dunne waited for DRS and pounced when Goethe made a mistake, retaking the lead and keeping it to the flag. Stenshorne climbed to second with a move at Turn 3, while DAMS driver Dino Beganovic, already a Sprint Race winner earlier in the day, held on to third ahead of Câmara and Noel León.

“I feel like it’s been forever since I last won a race,” Dunne told the official F2 website.

Top 7

1. Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
2. Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
3. Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
4. Rafael Câmara
5. Noel León
6. Gabriele Minì
7. Roman Bilinski
Nikola Tsolov (Campos) – DNF

Câmara edges ahead of Tsolov

Tsolov’s zero and Câmara’s fourth place changed the order at the top. Câmara now leads on 182 points, just one ahead of Tsolov, while Dunne has closed to within eight points. The fight resumes in Baku’s Feature Race 2.