Alex Dunne grabs maiden F2 pole at prestigious Monaco Grand Prix
The Offaly native, has already enjoyed a stellar season to date in the final feeder series leading to Formula One, winning the feature races in Bahrain and Imola, which has left him top of the drivers standings.
The McLaren development driver has an opportunity to extend that championship lead at an iconic Monaco street circuit where qualification is more paramount than at any other venue.
The 19-year-old, who drivers for the Rodin team in F2, made his way round the Monte Carlo streets in a time of 1:21.142 , three thousands of a second faster than Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix, which ensured that he will start from pole for Sunday's feature race.
🏁 CHEQUERED FLAG 🏁
BY THREE THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND, ALEX DUNNE GRABS POLE!!!
A 1:21.142 secures the championship leader pole position for Sunday's Feature Race #F2 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/IQJDfxLbDi
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 23, 2025
Next up for Dunne in Monaco will be Saturday's sprint race, before the feature race the following morning which will precede the F1 race.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Top Irish racing driver bounces back from big career setback to forge new path
Laura O'Connell was primed and ready to go and, just a week before her dream race, it was snatched from her grasp. The 26-year-old was one of only two Irish female racing drivers - Hanna Celsie was the other - drawn from 25 countries worldwide, who competed in the Formula Women Nations Cup Finals qualifier in Dubai last December. O'Connell successfully made it through the process and everything was booked for a return to the finals in May. They were to be a part of the Formula Woman Festival - an event set to be attended by over 60,000 enthusiasts and broadcast to over 120 countries - with Formula Woman established to provide a pathway for female drivers to climb the ladder towards Formula One involvement. "Unfortunately the week before we were all informed that Formula Woman would basically no longer be in business and that the Nations Cup was not going to go ahead," explained the Clare-born driver. "So, major disappointment. We had everything booked. My whole family had flights and accommodation and everything was ready." Formula 1 testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi (Image:) The O'Connells went anyway and Laura got to drive on the Yas Marina F1 circuit in Abu Dhabi through the former Formula Woman CEO Graeme Glew and also Golf Sport, who brought the cars up to the venue for six of the women due to compete. She got to have three 20-minute sessions on the track as the sun set from late afternoon to evening. "That was kind of a plus for all the stuff that had happened," said the 26-year-old. "It was very cool, actually, to see the track at night time and to see what the actual F1 drivers are seeing, because that's a night time race. "It was just a surreal thing because it's one of those bucket list tracks. It was definitely the coolest track I've ever been on, especially when the hotel there at Yas Marina started to light up at night time and changed colour. It wasn't a totally wasted trip, I suppose!" O'Connell grew up in Broadford as a F1 fan with posters of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher on her wall. Her father, Pat, was a rally driver who also helped to organise the Galway Rally, and she grew up going to karting tracks with him. She played underage Camogie for her county but racing is in the blood. So while she loved her Yas Marina experience, missing out on the Nations Cup finals was a body blow and she took almost a month off afterwards to come to terms with it, then returned to the track. Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher in 1992 (Image: Bongarts/Getty Images) "The FW cancellation was kept very quiet, it kind of disappeared without any sort of trace, so it's definitely been hard to take," O'Connell said. "But we'll keep moving anyway and try to forget about it. "I got a sports psychologist to help me through that disappointment and to kind of mentally prepare for what was to come next. "I was watching a lot of other sports, even hurling and rugby, they all have them. So does racing - all the top racers will have them, and there's obviously a reason for them to have them. So I sought out a sports psychologist myself and yeah, they've really been helping get me in the right mindset. It's been really helpful." She went back racing in June after joining the new Racing Women team founded by Glew and O'Connell's new team-mate was Jorden Dolishka - who won that Formula Woman Nations Cup qualifier in December. Together, they won the Radical UK Cup championship team event in that same month, with O'Connell and Dolishka taking one race each before swapping halfway in the endurance race. "It was great to come out with a win after everything that happened," said the Irish driver. "I was mad to get back out so I was just trying to figure out where to go. And I was lucky that Racing Women was formed and I was able to join them straight away." Laura O'Connell and Jorden Dolishka celebrate their team victory (Image: Laura O'Connell Instagram) She will race with the team - now expanded to 10 drivers - again next month in the same UK championship, although this time it will be a mixed event involving men and women. That will take place in Donington Park and the prize on offer is a fully sponsored drive in the Radical World UK finals, which will take place in Virginia in November. "So hopefully I'll make the top two and I'll have a free ride to America. But we'll see how it goes," smiled O'Connell, who will be in Donington Park on Wednesday for a test day. "I'll basically be up against all these racing women and I'll kind of get a good idea of my competition and how I stand next to them. I do feel like I'll be in with a good enough chance." The ultimate goal with Racing Women, O'Connell confides, is to get a team into the 24 Hour Le Mans in the coming years. A big step up, she admits, given that the longest race she has done is 45 minutes. Laura O'Connell behind the wheel (Image: Laura O'Connell Instagram) "But it's one I'm working towards," she added. "And hopefully in the next year or so, if I get the sponsors that I'm hoping to get, I'll be able to kind of do it full time and work my way towards Le Mans." O'Connell is a biochemist who works just 10 minutes from home for Beckman Coulter and she is hugely grateful that the multi-national company supports her in terms of time off when she needs it to pursue her dream. Gym work is vital to her cause, as is the sports psychology aspect and working on the simulator she has at home where she can get a feel for what the car will be like on the Donington track, while using an online coach to help her look for the marginal gains. It's all about making further progress up the ladder. "Especially as a woman, it's so much harder for us anyway to get sponsors, to get the coverage and the results that the men are getting because we're kind of treated a little bit differently outside of the actual race," O'Connell said. "Once we put our helmets on, we're all treated the exact same. "But outside of that, it's definitely not harder for a woman. So I felt like when the Nations Cup was cancelled, it was just another kind of punch in the gut for women in sport. But I've been very lucky with all the opportunities that have kind of been thrown my way since and hopefully they don't stop."
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Michael Conlan reflects on infamous X-rated Olympics interview nine years on
Michael Conlan says his controversial loss at the 2016 Olympics was a 'blessing in disguise' nine years on from his infamous RTE interview. Just moments after the shock loss to Vladimir Nikitin, Conlan gave an expletive-ridden interview to the national broadcaster, calling the decision a 'shambles'. "I will never box for them again," Conlan told RTE. "They're cheating b*******, they're paying everybody. "I don't give a f*** about swearing on TV. I'm here to win Olympic gold and my dream has been shattered." Conlan was also seen pointing the middle finger in the ring after the fight. Since then, an independent investigation has said the fight outcome was 'deemed suspicious,' while Conlan has previously added that he feels vindicated by the McLaren report. Now nine years to the day, Conlan has reflected on the shock loss. "Nine years ago today... time really does fly!" he posted on social media. "What felt like a setback back then turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The truth came out later with the McLaren Report (look it up if you don't know) which made it all the sweeter knowing I was right. "If I could go back to change this I wouldn't. What's meant to be will always be - this was springboard into professional boxing world that helped me set up my family future, so thank you." Conlan would go on to launch a successful pro career and was one last-minute punch away from becoming a world champion when he lost to Leigh Wood in 2022. He faced his old foe Nikitin in December 2019, cruising to victory via unanimous decision. Since his loss to Wood, Conlan's career hasn't been plain sailing. After bouncing back with a couple of wins, he suffered successive defeats to Luis Alberto Lopez and Jordan Gill. Conlan did say he was on the verge of retirement only for his daughter to force a u-turn. "It was after after Lopez and after Gill and I'm thinking 'that's enough, that's me done,'" he told the Irish Mirror. "So I said to the missus, that's me done, I ain't going to do this no more and she says 'okay, no problem'. "But my daughter Luisne who is 10 hears me saying it and she says 'What? No, daddy! You need to be a world champion, you're not retiring...'." He returns to action next month, headlining a 3Arena Show on 5 September against Jack Bateson.
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- RTÉ News
Jordan and Birrane to be remembered at Mondello Park
Mondello Park will hold its annual Carol Nash Historic festival of classic racing this weekend and tributes to the late Eddie Jordan and Martin Birrane, the late owner of the Co Kildare circuit, who would have turned 90 this year, will feature. The main straight at Mondello Park will be renamed the Birrane Straight in honour of the Mayo man, who saved the track from closure when he bought the venue back in the mid-1980s Birrane set up the Mondello Park museum some years ago and two of its cars, the V10-engined Jordan 195 and the Pacific PR01, which saw action in the 1994 F1 season, will both have demonstration runs as part of the 'Eddie Jordan - From Grid to Glory' event. Some of Jordan's family, as well as friends and former teammates, will be along for the Jordan-themed events on Saturday. Five-time grand prix winner John Watson will also be in attendance along with Dubliner Derek Daly the last driver from the Republic of Ireland to race in F1, when he competed for Williams Grand Prix back in 1982, Martin Donnelly, whose 1990 crash in the Lotus-Lamborghini was referenced in F1:The Movie this year, will also be in Mondello. FIA Formula 2 driver Alex Dunne, who may be on his way to F1 next season with the new Cadillac outfit, and World Rally Championship driver Josh McErlean will make up the new breed of Irish drivers plying their trade at the top of world motorsport this weekend Not only will there be static displays and celebrity drivers, but Mondello will also finally get to host Formula Ford 1600 racing, the class where most began their racing careers. On Saturday the drivers in FF1600 will vie for the Fionn Murray Trophy and on Sunday for the Vivion Daly Trophy. They were both stalwarts of the series back in its heyday in the 1980s and '90s and he families of Fionn and Vivion will be in attendance to present the trophies. Let us hope those who are in Mondello will get to see a decent grid of cars representing FFord racing. The Irish International Grand Prix Trophy; The Dublin Grand Prix Trophy; and The St Brigid's Trophy, which cover open-wheel, GT, saloon, and vintage car grids from the 1920s to 1960s will also take to the track over the two days Meanwhile, the Ulster Rally takes place this Friday and Saturday and is the penultimate round of NAPA Autoparts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (ITRC), with only the Cork 20 to run as the final round in October. The Galway International was due to be the opening round in February, but it was cancelled due to storm damage, reducing the ITRC to six rounds. The 2023 ITRC winner and number-one seed Callum Devine arrives at the Ulster Rally carrying the momentum of three consecutive victories and seeking hist first in this event, having notched up runner-up finishes in the past two years. Devine would win the ITRC for a second time with victory in the Newry-based event. Hot on his heels is the in-form David Kelly, who sits 21 points behind Devine in the championship standings and has been knocking on the door of his maiden rally victory all season. Adding intrigue to the Rally2 category are the father and son duo of Declan and Michael Boyle, both competing in Skoda Fabias. Declan Boyle, the 2014 ITRC winner finds himself sitting just six points behind Kelly and holding a narrow three-point advantage over his son Michael. Kevin Eves and Chris Melly will be looking to build on their encouraging seventh-place finish in Donegal as they continue their maiden season campaigning a Ford Fiesta Rally2. International interest comes courtesy of Welsh driver Osian Pryce, the 2022 British Rally Champion, who will behind the wheel of his Hyundai i20 Rally2. Pryce has an abundance of Ulster Rally experience, including victory in the Citroen DS3 R3T category back in 2013. Adding further depth to the Rally2 field is the welcome return of Darren Gass, the 2012 Irish Tarmac Rally Champion, driving a Volkswagen Polo R5.
