Dunne: Pole came from "Good last sector" in crucial Monaco qualifying

Formula 2's championship leader Alex Dunne attributed his Monaco pole to an excellent final sector, the point of difference in his three-millisecond margin over ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins, who once again came ever closer to nailing a first pole in 2025.

Alex Dunne claimed pole position in Monaco | Credit: Formula 2 via X

In a qualifying session split into two groups, Martins laid down the gauntlet in Group A, setting a stellar 1:21.145, putting himself in prime position to take his first pole in 2025. The Frenchman, who had finished either third or second on Fridays, ended the 16-minute session on top.

However, Dunne set three excellent laps, lowering the Group B benchmark as he went along. The Rodin Motorsport man followed up an excellent first sector with a good middle sector, leaving him with just under 0.15s to make up in the final sector to get the most important pole of the season.

A pole position lap in Monaco is always built on a stellar final sector, as qualifying sessions from prior events have shown, and as Dunne clambered over the kerbs at the swimming pool chicane, it looked to be another great Monaco qualifying lap in the making.

The result would flash up two corners later, as Dunne made his way around turns 18 and 19 and charged to the line, setting a scorching 1:21.142, securing pole, leaving Martins to reflect on another missed opportunity in qualifying.

The Irishman reflected on his qualifying lap, taking pole despite locking up twice on his lap, and attributed it to the massive final sector on the 2.075 mi (3.337 km) street circuit.

"On my lap, I locked up and made a mistake in Turn 5, and then I locked the rears again and turned six and made another mistake.

"So, one corner after another, there were two mistakes. I kind of thought pole here is probably going to be difficult, but every time I looked at the dash, I could see that I was still going quicker and quicker," Dunne said.

(There were) A couple of times during the lap, where I thought I was just going to lose time and I

didn't really feel like I had the tyres anymore on the last push," he continued.

Eking everything out of the final sector, Dunne believed his pole was down to the gains he made in this sector of the track.

"I I just tried to push as much as possible. Like I said, I thought pole was going to be difficult, but in the end, I think I did quite a good last sector, and I think that's kind of where the pole came from.

"So yeah, definitely a a difficult session. I felt like I had to work quite hard um to secure P1, but I'm glad with the end result, of course," Dunne concluded.

This marks the championship leader's maiden pole position, and he stands the best chance of converting it into a victory when the grid takes to the streets for the 42-lap feature race on Sunday.

Martins "not too frustrated" with second in qualifying

Martins expressed his thoughts on qualifying second for the feature race | Credit: Formula 2 via X

While Victor Martins emerged as the nearly-man in qualifying once again, the Williams junior didn't seem too displeased with his starting position.

The Frenchman wound up second by the slender margin of three milliseconds, the third time he ended Friday's running less than a hundredth from the pole time.

Although he wasn't too displeased, the ART racer expressed he had left some time on the table, having made a mistake in the first sector of his fastest lap.

"Definitely, I was not super happy about my about my session," Martins expressed. "I knew I was able to to improve on my previous laps. But then I did one big mistake that put me on the on the back foot and it's like this."

"I mean I can redo the session 100 times, find three thousandths everywhere, every metre, or probably one upshift," the Frenchman expressed, speaking on how closely contested qualifying around Monaco is.

"Definitely, I need not be too frustrated about that. After (my lap) for sure, watching the session is never a good feeling. But also watching the first group going, I think it's not easy either." Martins expressed.

The ART racer had topped group qualifying last year in Monaco, but went out in the second of the groups. Having gone out in Group A this time, the first of the groups to take to the track, Martins remarked about not knowing which group was better.

"I have been in (Group B) before. You wait so much. You redo the world, you know, before going in the car. So I don't know which group is better to to go.

"Probably, on outright performance, the second group, but I mean you need to adapt yourself to where you are. It was definitely a bit of a stress to to look at the the lap times," Martins expressed.

The attention now turns to Saturday and Sunday, with two races and a handful of points up for grabs. Martins starts alongside Dunne on the front row, with overtaking still known to be difficult despite the smaller cars as compared to their Formula One counterparts.

The ART racer spoke of the opportunities at hand to secure a big result in the weekend, given his starting position.

"Now I need to be focused on the races. There will be a great opportunity to score big points this weekend, and be proud of ourselves," Martins expressed.

While Dunne and Martins will start from the front row for Sunday's 42-lap sprint, they will have their task cut out navigating Saturday's 30-lap sprint from ninth and tenth on the grid. DAMS' Kush Maini starts at the front of the field, the Indian racer targeting his first rostrum appearance of 2025. Alongside him will be Luke Browning, the Hitech racer targeting his first win of 2025.

Formula 2's sprint race gets underway at 14:15 Monaco time (12:15 GMT), and it is certainly a race you don't want to miss!