Grand Prix d'Emilie-Romagne - Race: Alex Dunne wins at Imola and takes the championship lead

Alex Dunne took the lead in the Formula 2 championship thanks to a perfectly controlled race in Imola, securing his second victory of the 2025 season after the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Irish driver for Rodin Motorsport delivered a strong performance in the main race of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, winning with more than a six-second lead over the Hitech duo of Luke Browning and Dino Beganovic.

The race experienced its first incidents from the start. Indeed, Sebastian Montoya (Prema Racing), who qualified in second position, was unable to start during the formation lap and had to start from the pits. Similarly, French driver Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix), third on the grid, also stalled at the start.

These incidents benefited Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing), who climbed to second place behind poleman Dino Beganovic, while Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing) took third position ahead of Dunne.

The pit stop strategy makes the difference

Starting from fifth on the grid, Dunne made the difference during the mandatory pit stops. Indeed, there were two opposing race strategies at Imola: the first, adopted by the majority of the leaders, involved starting on super-soft tires with an early stop in mind. The alternative strategy favored the soft tires to extend the first stint.

In the seventh lap, the leading pack following the conventional strategy stopped to switch to soft tires. This sequence cost Fornaroli dearly, as he found himself relegated to the back of the leading quartet, while Dunne took advantage of the situation to gain two positions, ending up in Beganovic's slipstream.

Luke Browning and Jak Crawford reacted the following lap, with the Briton taking the advantage over the American. Browning then exited the pits in the virtual lead of the race but immediately came under pressure from his teammate, Beganovic, who had stopped the previous lap. A duel between the two Hitech drivers ensued, with the Swedish driver attempting to overtake his teammate on the outside of the Tosa corner, a maneuver that failed but allowed Dunne to slip between the two cars. On the ninth lap, the Irish driver activated his DRS to overtake Browning in the first chicane and take the effective lead of the race.

The safety car reshuffles the deck.

The events took a different turn when Pepe Martí and Joshua Duerksen, who were following the alternative strategy (soft tires, then super-softs), found themselves in the lead. On the fourteenth lap, Duerksen overtook the Spaniard just before a safety car was deployed following Rafael Villagomez's retirement, who was immobilized after a collision with Sami Meguetounif.

This neutralization had erased the 35-second gap that the leaders on an alternative strategy had built. After the restart, the junior McLaren driver quickly moved up through the pack, while Browning found himself stuck behind Amaury Cordeel, Dunne's teammate. Cordeel played his role as a teammate perfectly by slowing down the Brit to aid his team companion's progress.

On the twenty-seventh lap, Dunne had overtaken Duerksen to take the lead. Meanwhile, Browning was still in fifth place behind the drivers on an alternative strategy. By the time Browning finally reached second place, Dunne had already pulled away with a five-second lead.

The Irishman then perfectly managed the end of the race to cross the finish line with more than six seconds ahead of Browning. Beganovic completed the podium, ahead of Lindblad and Fornaroli. Jak Crawford, winner of the sprint race the day before, finished sixth, followed by Oliver Goethe and a Montoya who, despite starting from the pits, managed to climb up to eighth place.

New leader in the championship

This victory allows Alex Dunne to take the lead of the championship with 64 points, ahead of Luke Browning (58 points) and Richard Verschoor (55 points), who finished ninth after starting nineteenth on the grid.

In the team standings, Hitech TGR takes first place with 87 points, just ahead of Campos Racing (86 points). MP Motorsport (67 points), Rodin Motorsport (64 points), and Invicta Racing (61 points) complete the top 5.

Main Race Standings Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2025