Dunne reclaims F2 lead with controlled wet-weather victory at Spa

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

McLaren junior Alex Dunne mastered treacherous conditions to win a slightly shortened Formula 2 feature race at Spa-Franchorchamps.

Several formation laps were completed behind the safety car before the race got underway with a rolling start.

Rodin Motorsport’s Dunne led away from pole, while Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek snatched second from ART Grand Prix’s Ritomo Miyata into La Source.

Stanek got sideways one corner later at Eau Rouge, allowing Miyata to draw back alongside and reclaim the place at Les Combes. The pair’s squabble allowed Dunne to pull 1.8 seconds clear by the end of lap one.

Dunne slightly extended his advantage to 2.3s on the next tour but Miyata responded to close back in by 0.9s. The gap continued to come down, and by lap eight the top three were nose to tail.

Having been forced to defend from Miyata in turn one, Dunne then slightly edged away once more, and the pair made their mandatory pitstops on lap 13 – changing to a fresh set of wet tyres.

Stanek, who had pitted one lap earlier, jumped ahead of Miyata and challenged Dunne into Les Combes.

Dunne remained ahead, but he had a sketchy moment after catching the still-to-pit Oliver Goethe at the top of Raidillion as the rain intensified. After going side-by-side for several corners, Dunne swept around the outside of the MP Motorsport driver through Pouhon to reclaim the lead.

Goethe headed for the pitlane at the end of the lap, while Stanek was shuffled back to fourth by Miyata and Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad. Miyata soon spun on the exit of Pouhon, promoting Lindblad and Stanek to second and third.

Dunne built a four-second lead, but that was eradicated by the safety car when Prema’s Sebastian Montoya stopped following a high-speed spin at Eau Rouge.

Any hope of further racing action was ended by Goethe’s car stopping on circuit and catching fire, and red flags were brought out. Dunne therefore took victory and the points lead, with Lindlad and Stanek completing the podium.

Miyata finished a career-best fourth, and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning came home fifth courtesy of making early progress from 12th on the grid as he later spun at the exit of the pitlane following his pitstop.

Having been overtaken by Browning shortly before the late safety car period, Campos’s Pepe Marti finished sixth.

Sprint race winner Leonardo Fornaroli struggled early on and dropped out of the top 10, but he made a strong recovery following his pitstop to come home seventh and keep third in the standings.

Pre-race points leader Richard Verschoor made a second pitstop during the late safety car period and was classified 19th, one place behind Jak Crawford who was previously his main title rival.

Race results (19 laps)