What a turnaround. Alexander Dunne finally broke through for his first feature race victory of the year at the Baku City Circuit, leading home a stunning one-two finish for Rodin Motorsport. Joining him on the podium were teammate Martinius Stenshorne in second and DAMS Lucas Oil's Dino Beganovic in third, capping off a dramatic afternoon.
For Dunne, the wait had been long enough that he confessed to questioning whether a win would even happen this season. But the pace around Baku was undeniable. Aside from taking the top step, he also finished on the podium in the sprint race, praising the massive effort from his squad to completely transform their form.
Red flags and safety cars can completely break a driver's rhythm, but Dunne found an unusual silver lining in the stoppages. He admitted he was quite happy about the red flags because he desperately needed a toilet break before the race started—joking that repeating his pre-session routine from qualifying seemed to do the trick. More importantly, the result drags him firmly back into the championship fight after he had mentally written off his chances a few rounds ago.
Martinius Stenshorne fought his way brilliantly to second to complete Rodin's dream result. The race was far from straightforward, as a safety car arriving right after a pit stop dropped him down the order before a red flag shuffled the pack once more. That meant plenty of hard-fought overtakes, but the pace in his machine ultimately bailed him out. With the weekend's earlier running highlighting total dominance from the team—including a one-two in both qualifying sessions—Stenshorne will inherit pole position for tomorrow's race.
Meanwhile, Dino Beganovic kept his impressive momentum rolling with a third-place finish. Fresh off winning the sprint race earlier in the day, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver admitted another podium wasn't exactly expected. A perfectly timed safety car played right into his hands, allowing him to box at the ideal moment and execute a clean race, even if matching the raw pace of the Rodin duo proved a step too far.
Beganovic's resurgence follows a standout weekend in Madrid and a strong summer break, launching him into a late-season points streak. While he sits fifth in the standings and admits a top-three finish in the championship will be a tough mathematical ask, he remains fully focused on maximizing every single point left on the table as the season winds down.
