The second event of the 2021 Spanish F4 Championship was a learning experience for Pinnacle Motorsport. Young talent Alex Dunne powered through a challenging weekend at the Circuito de Navarra to score valuable points.
Dunne’s pace was hampered by a cracked gearbox bell housing on Saturday, causing him to qualify P14 out of a 25-car strong field. Putting the slight setback behind him, a quick getaway off the grid in Race 1 that afternoon saw the 15-year-old gain several places to make it as high as P9 on the very first lap. He was later swarmed by his rivals over the course of the 16-lap race to end up 14th when the chequered flag dropped.
The second day of racing at Navarra allowed Dunne and Pinnacle Motorsport to start fresh free from the previous day’s woes. Starting from P17 of the grid in Race 2, a slow start dropped him down to P20 before the safety car was deployed. But by the time the race was restarted, there was less than six minutes left on the clock leaving Dunne a handful of laps to make up lost places. He made the most of it and went on to take 15th spot on the very last lap.
The young Irishman saved his best performance for the final race of the weekend. He was quick to gain a position on the opening lap of Race 3 and finally break into the top 10. Dunne continued his charge through the field and steadily climbed up the standings to P8 before the safety car period. Wasting no time, he made up another spot in the closing stages when the race was red flagged on the very last lap. This would secure Dunne 7th place to add to his and Pinnacle Motorsport’s tally of points.
Alex Dunne currently sits 9th in the driver’s championship after two events with five more still to go. The season resumes on the 16th/17th of July at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão for the third round of 2021.
Alex Dunne: “That was tough. We were bound to have difficulties at some time during the year but I was not expecting a weekend like this. I’m glad we found the issue when we did as we can now get on with fixing the set up of the car and we have already made good progress through the three races since the fault was diagnosed. We don’t race again until July but we have three tests arranged between now and the next round so I’m sure we will continue to make progress before we are back in action in Portugal on July 17th.”
John O’Hara, Team Director: “We had hoped to be closer to the front here at Navarra. It was still a good learning experience overall for both Pinnacle Motorsport and Alex. A cracked gearbox bell housing cost us pace on Saturday, though our fortunes later improved and we were finally fighting at the right end of the field by Sunday afternoon. Focusing on the positives, pleased that Alex was able to collect valuable points and he showed real maturity on track all weekend. He’s really growing as a driver and we’re looking to bounce back at Portimão in July.
Accompanying Pinnacle Motorsport on their Spanish F4 Championship are partners KCMG and Motorsport Ireland.