What a weekend for Alexander Dunne. The Rodin Motorsport driver bounced right back onto the podium for the first time since the Feature Race in Barcelona, taking a brilliant P2 in the Madrid Feature Race.
It has not been a barren spell exactly, with the Irishman collecting four top five finishes and another four top 10 results in the meantime. But this was different. Dunne admitted he was unusually happy with a second-place finish, buoyed by genuine speed on both single laps and race stints right from Friday. As Dunne put it, "I'm not normally this happy to finish second, so I'll take it while it lasts."
I'm going to leave nothing on the table, leave it all out there.
He wasn't alone at the sharp end, acknowledging that both he and Dino Beganovic held a clear pace advantage over the rest of the grid. But a race like this is never just about raw speed. The Madrid Feature Race threw a strategic puzzle at the field when an early Safety Car scrambled the mandatory pit stop windows, splitting the pit wall decisions up and down the paddock.
Initially, Dunne wanted to dive straight into the lane at the first possible chance, broadcasting his preference over the radio to his team. Instead, the team kept him out on track longer. That call proved inspired. A later Safety Car broke the race open, handing both Dunne and eventual winner Dino Beganovic the perfect window to service their cars without dropping off the podium.
It was a bullet dodged. Had they blinked early like Rafa and Martinius—who pitted sooner to cover rivals and ultimately saw their races ruined—the outcome would have looked entirely different. Dunne handled the Soft tyres expertly, stretched the stint, and reaped the rewards.
Now, the attention shifts immediately to Baku. This podium narrows the championship advantage held by Nikola Tsolov, leaving 38 points separating Dunne in fourth from the series leader. With Round 12 looming as a supersized weekend featuring an extra Qualifying and Feature Race, there are massive points on the table.
Dunne is heading into the battle with eyes firmly fixed on the top three. As he made clear, "I'm going to leave nothing on the table, leave it all out there."
