Dunne third in Formula 2 opener in Australia
· Yahoo Sports
Ireland's Alex Dunne finished in third place in the opening Formula 2 sprint race of the season in Australia.
The 20-year-old, who joined Alpine F1's junior programme for 2026, made a last-lap pass to secure his place on the podium.
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Dunne made a clever overtake on pole sitter Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to finish fourth on the road, but his Rodin team-mate Martinius Stenshorne had a penalty which promoted the Irish driver to third.
Paraguay's Joshua Durksen won the race in Melbourne ahead of Mexico's Noel Leon.
Dunne had started the race in seventh place and shadowed Stenshorne through the order with passes on Nikola Tsolov, Kush Maini, Rafa Camara and Gabriele Mini.
Norway's Stenshorne had been handed a five-second penalty for his overtake on Tsolov earlier in the race, which allowed Dunne to follow his team-mate over the line and get on the podium.
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Colton Herta, the IndyCar race winner who was making his Formula 2 debut as he chases his goal of Formula 1, was 16th after a collision with Tsolov.
The Formula 2 feature race takes place on Sunday at 00:25 GMT ahead of the Formula 1 opener at Albert Park, and Dunne will start from third position.
In Formula 3, teenager Fionn McLaughlin finished 15th on his debut in a shortened race due to a red flag in the sprint race.
The Red Bull Junior driver was 18th in qualifying and had made progress up the order when Prema team-mates James Wharton and Louis Sharp crashed on the seventh lap, which brought out the red flag.
The race was not restarted, and McLaughlin, who is from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland, will get his first taste of a Formula 3 feature race at 21:45 GMT on Saturday, when he again starts in 18th.