Dunne scorches Spa with red-hot lap to claim F2 pole in Belgium

Vyas Ponnuri
Jul 25
4 min read

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Alex Dunne maintained his four-tenth advantage to the Formula 2 field from free practice, grabbing pole position for the Belgian round of the F2 calendar, after setting a series of scorching lap times as the session progressed.

Dunne looked unstoppable on Friday | Credit: Formula 2

The Irishman initially led the field by four tenths of a second after the first series of flying laps, before finding yet more time in the second half of the session to place himself comfortably at the head of the field, in a session when several championship contenders fell by the wayside.

In a session of surprises, ART Grand Prix's Ritomo Miyata found himself with his best F2 start, ending up second after an incredible lap from the Japanese racer. Invicta Racing's Roman Staněk once again impressed, and will start third in Sunday's Feature Race.

F2's best qualifier in 2025, Victor Martins will start fourth on the road, outqualified by his teammate this weekend, while Arvid Lindblad and Pepe Martí's late laps earned them fifth andf sixth respectively.

Silverstone sprint winner Leonardo Fornaroli would only finish seventh, having sat second at half time. Gabriele Minì found himself as the lead PREMA Racing car on the road in eighth, ahead of Dunne's teammate Amaury Cordeel in ninth, while Ollie Goethe will start as the lead MP Motorsport car on the grid in tenth, and on pole for Saturday's Sprint Race.

AS IT UNFOLDED

The length of the track meant drivers immediately emerged to set their laps | Credit: Formula 2 via X

Heading into the 30-minute qualifying session, Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne topped the sole Free Practice session earlier in the day, ahead of Gabriele Minì and Victor Martins.

Fog earlier in the morning had delayed the start of Formula 3 action, with Free Practice for F3 ending at 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT), just a half-hour before F2 drivers took to the track for qualifying. The revised F3 qualifying was pushed back to 19:10 local time (17:10 GMT).

With the sheer length of the track, and the longer in laps and out laps, drivers instantly took to the track to set their flying laps, with absolutely no time to lose anywhere.

Barring the DAMS duo of Jak Crawford and Kush Maini, the rest of the grid peeled into the pits after their out-lap, looking for a clearer portion of track to set their fastest lap times.

It was Luke Browning setting the early benchmark, with a 1:58.537 being his quickest lap time, before the likes of Roman Staněk and Leonardo Fornaroli breached the Hitech racer's lap by just under two tenths of a second. However, Dunne, coming off his free practice form, regained the quickest lap time, albeit by just three milliseconds around a seven-kilometre circuit.

Just two tenths of a second separated the top six, as the drivers went for their second lap on the first set of tyres. Failing to improve on his lap, Browning pitted, while championship leader Richard Verschoor did enough to move up to seventh, and Van Amersfoort Racing's John Bennett rose up the order to tenth.

Meanwhile, Verschoor's teammate Ollie Goethe lost his lap time for track limits, having slithered over the white lines denoting the exit of Pouhon corner. This left him down in last position, the only driver not to set a lap in the first half of the session.

However, Dunne looked ominous, finding plenty of time as he set purple sectors on his second qualifying lap as well. When it all added up, the Irish racer put himself four tenths clear of the rest, setting a scorching lap of 1:57.863, firing a warning shot to the rest of the grid.

Halfway into the session, Dunne led the field, ahead of Fornaroli and Minì, while just over eight tenths of a second separated the Rodin Motorsport racer from tenth-placed Verschoor.

With just under ten minutes to go, drivers put on a fresh set of soft tyres, in a bid to find yet more lap time, and improve their starting positions for the weekend's races.

The same strategy ensued, with drivers taking to the pit lane during their out laps, in a bid to gain better track positioning, as the clock continued to tick down.

Goethe, who was yet to set a lap, had set the fastest middle sector in the second runs, moving up to second, ahead of Crawford and Max Esterson. But neither driver, and none in the field, for that matter, looked set to match or better the times set by Dunne, who bettered his benchmark with a 1:57.151, seven tenths quicker than his previous best.

Teammate Amaury Cordeel then leapt up the order, while Staněk put his Invicta Racing up the order in third. Lindblad too moved up into the top five ahead of teammate Pepe Martí, while several championship contenders fell down the order.

With 20 seconds left on the clock, Verschoor was one of the few drivers to set off on a late attempt at elevating himself up the order. However, his tyres were past their best, as the championship leader kept giving up time in each corner. Unable to improve his time, he wound up in 11th.

Second in the championship, Crawford found himself marooned down in 14th, while Browning would start the pair of races this weekend in 12th, in a session of shocks and surprises.