Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
McLaren junior Alex Dunne will take part in this week’s post-season Formula 2 test in Abu Dhabi with Rodin Motorsport ahead of a potential step up to the series for 2025.
With 16 out of 22 drivers already announced by their teams for next season, very few question marks were left to be answered by the publication of the entry list for the three-day test that begins on Wednesday.
In fact, of the remaining seven seats, six will be filled for the start of the test by the same drivers that occupied them during the season-ending races at Yas Marina.
Irishman Dunne contested his first season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2023 with MP Motorsport, and gained the backing of the McLaren Formula 1 team early in the year. He finished the campaign 14th in the standings with sprint race podiums at Barcelona and Monza.
Dunne was previously a dominant British Formula 4 champion in 2022, when he also finished second to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Italian series. He went on to also be runner-up in GB3 in 2023.
One driver staying on with his 2024 team for the test is Victor Martins amid speculation that he could remain in the series for a third year with ART Grand Prix.
The Alpine junior finished fifth overall as top rookie in 2023 but experienced a more difficult second season with the new-for-2024 car, eventually recovering to seventh in the championship with a single sprint race win at Barcelona and one pole position in Abu Dhabi.
AIX Racing and Van Amersfoort Racing both retain their line-ups from the final two rounds of the 2024 season, with Joshua Duerksen and Rafael Villagomez preparing for their second seasons and joined respectively by Cian Shields and John Bennett, who both made their F2 debuts in Qatar.
However, Duerksen will hand his car over to Argentine driver Nico Varrone for Friday’s final day. The 24-year-old last raced a single-seater intermittently in GB3 in 2019 and 2020, after winning the 2018 V de V Challenge. He went on to become a star of sportscar racing, winning the World Endurance Championship’s LMGTE Am title with Corvette Racing in 2023.
Test entry list
| No. | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix |
| 2 | Ritomo Miyata | |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | Prema Racing |
| 4 | Sebastian Montoya | |
| 5 | Alex Dunne | Rodin Motorsport |
| 6 | Christian Mansell | |
| 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS |
| 8 | Kush Maini | |
| 9 | Roman Stanek | Invicta Racing |
| 10 | Leonardo Fornaroli | |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport |
| 12 | Oliver Goethe | |
| 14 | John Bennett | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 15 | Rafael Villagomez | |
| 16 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech |
| 17 | Luke Browning | |
| 20 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos Racing |
| 21 | Pepe Marti | |
| 22 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident |
| 23 | Max Esterson | |
| 24 | Joshua Duerksen (Day 1-2) Nicolas Varrone (Day 3) |
AIX Racing |
| 25 | Cian Shields |