Alex Dunne Secures F2 Championship Lead with Victory at Belgian Grand Prix

Alex Dunne reclaimed the lead of the FIA Formula2 Championship with victory at the Belgian Grand Prix feature race. The Offaly native scorched to pole position on Friday, more than four-tenths of a second clear of Japanese driver Ritomo Miyata. Having claimed second at the rain-sodden British Grand Prix earlier this month, the 19-year-old again showed his skill in wet conditions to claim his third victory of the season at the legendary Spa circuit in a race that began behind a safety car. The Rodin driver and McLaren junior completed the 19 laps ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Roman Stanek, and having started the day third overall in the championship standings, Dunne returns to the summit on 137 points, ahead of Richard Verschoor (122) and Italian Leonardo Fornaroli (121), who was the sprint race winner.

Dunne made a flying start once the safety car departed and, despite a brief challenge from Japan's Ritomo Miyata, led by time he entered the pit lane. He returned from the pitstop in fourth before an audacious overtaking manoeuvre past Ollie Goethe saw him re-take the lead. The safety car returned late on after Sebastian Montoya crashed and when Goethe retired in the final lap with engine failure, Dunne took the chequered flag unchallenged. \"I had to work really hard for that one,\" Dunne said afterwards. \"It was really tough.\" Dunne has won two feature races this year in Bahrain and at Imola, and recently became the first Irish driver to feature in a Formula One grand prix session for 22 years when he took part in Friday first practice ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. There are five rounds of competition left before the concluding race at Yas Island in December.