Absolute scenes in Baku as Alexander Dunne finally put it all together to claim his first pole position of the 2026 season. The Rodin Motorsport charger was fast all day, admitting it was probably the first time he had properly smiled all year. And rightly so—his blistering pace helped orchestrate a stunning one-two lockout for Rodin Motorsport alongside teammate Martinius Stenshorne.
Now, managing the slipstream around this fearsome circuit is always an absolute mess of a challenge, and this year proved no exception. Dunne noted that the traffic jam out on track was surprisingly worse than Monza, recalling a heart-stopping moment coming out of Turn 6 where a massive queue of crawling cars nearly ended in a pile-up. Despite the chaos and imperfect tows, the machine hooked up when it mattered. Stenshorne slotted right in behind him to take second, keeping himself firmly in the mix after showing strong pace from Free Practice onward.
Down in third, Campos Racing driver Noel León managed to extract a crucial improvement when many others struggled to find extra pace. León admitted it was a tough session bogged down by the frantic hunt for a slipstream, feeling he missed out on pole simply because his tow wasn't quite optimal. Still, after enduring a rough patch over the summer break, León has clearly rediscovered his momentum since Budapest and feels pleased to be starting from the clean side of the grid.
With two extra championship points in his pocket for the pole, Dunne heads into the races looking to finally tick off his first victory of the year. The gap to the championship leaders remains big, but after making solid progress starting from Madrid, he is leaving nothing out there for the remainder of the season. Stenshorne is equally eager to right the wrongs of last year's visit to Baku—where speed didn't translate into the results he deserved—while León knows he has his work cut out trying to hunt down the rapid Rodin machines tomorrow.
