Offaly Formula 2 driver quickest in morning practice

OFFALY motor racing driver Alex Dunne was the quickest in free practice on Friday morning at the opening session of this weekend's Formula 2 race in Imola, Italy.

In his Rodin car, the young Clonbullogue man's time of 1:27.907 had him marginally ahead of Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad.

The other Rodin Motorsport driver, Amaury Cordeel from Belgium, clocked a time of 1:28.897, 19^th in the field of 22.

After the practice session the contest for places on the grid in Saturday's sprint race took place and 19-year-old Dunne, in his FIA F2 rookie season, finished fifth with a lap time of 1:27.806.

A Swede, Dino Beganovic, driving for Hitech TGR, took pole with 1:27.418.

Lindblad got the ball rolling in the session with a 1:28.175 to lead the pack but he was pipped by Victor Martins and Alex Dunne in short order, the Offaly man continuing from where he was in practice.

The Rodin Motorsport driver’s 1:27.827 was later beaten by Lindblad who moved back up to the top by going 0.012 of a second quicker on his next attempt.

The sprint race will take place at the Imola circuit in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy at 2.15pm on Saturday.

Drivers complete 25 laps in the sprint, covering a total of 122.725km.

The feature race of the weekend then takes place on Sunday, with 35 laps and 171.815km.

Drivers travelled at speeds of over 200kph in Friday's qualifying session.

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This weekend is round four of the championship and on May 22-25 the teams will move to Monte Carlo.

There are 14 rounds in all and Alex Dunne is currently fourth in the standings on 35 points, 18 behind the championship leader, the Dutchman Richard Verschoor of MP Motorsport.

Dunne is a McLaren Driver Development Programme member and he has already chalked up one victory this season by winning the feature race in Sakhir, Bahrain on the second weekend of the campaign.