Ireland’s Alex Dunne propelled himself right back into the championship hunt in the GB3 championship following a remarkable performance at Spa-Franchorchamps at the weekend.
Photo credit: GB3 | Jakob Ebrey
The 17-year-old headed into the event P6 in the standings and 57 points adrift of championship leader Joseph Loake.
Promising pace at Silverstone should have led to a win for Dunne, but he was unfortunately taken out in race 2 when battling for the net win.
However, it all turned around at Spa — one of Dunne’s favourite tracks — as he made history in the GB3 championship.
Starting P2 for the first two races of the weekend, Dunne patiently worked on finding a way past polesitter Callum Voisin in both.
After surviving contact with McKenzy Creswell at Les Combes on the opening lap of the first race, the Irish driver made a lovely move around the outside at the same spot to take the lead with four laps to go.
Dunne would repeat the trick on Voisin in the second race later in the day. The only difference was he did it on lap 4 this time around. He went on to win both races by over a second.
Photo credit: GB3 | Jakob Ebrey
With 2 wins from 2, Dunne went into Sunday’s morning reverse grid race full of confidence. As the whole pack is shuffled around, the Irishman started down in P24.
Just like he did in the final race at Silverstone, the young man from Offaly produced a masterclass in racecraft and overtaking — and avoided the carnage that usually takes places in the final event of the weekend. The Hitech GP driver gained a whopping 18 places to cross the line in P6.
As drivers gain a point for positions gained in a reverse grid race, Dunne scored a sensational 95 points across the three events on Saturday and Sunday. That’s a new record points haul for a single weekend in the series.
Photo credit: GB3 | Jakob Ebrey
Dunne also set the fastest lap in the first two races and was understandably buoyant about his amazing work at Spa.
“I’m very happy with how this weekend has gone,” stated Dunne. “Our pace was super strong right from the start in practice, the team at Hitech GP gave me a fantastic car to drive all weekend, so a huge thanks to them.
“I’m glad we’ve finally had the opportunity to showcase the pace we have, taking two wins and the fastest lap to go with it each time.
“I’m feeling very comfortable in GB3 now, and that’s starting to come out in our results. It’s great to catch up a lot of points in the championship, and I’m looking forward to what we can achieve from here, starting at Snetterton next time out.”
Ahead of the next round at Snetterton in just over a week, Dunne is now P3 in the standings and only 18 points behind series leader Joseph Loake.
Photo credit: GB3 | Jakob Ebrey
