Dunne Converts Pole Into First 2026 Win as Câmara Seizes the Championship Lead

Alexander Dunne led a Rodin Motorsport 1–2 in Friday’s time-limited Feature Race 1 in Baku, with Martinius Stenshorne second and Sprint winner Dino Beganovic third, while Rafael Câmara’s last-gasp pass on Noel León made him championship leader after Nikola Tsolov retired in a Turn 3 pile-up.

Hours after Dino Beganovic’s Sprint win, Baku’s first Feature Race flipped the title order again. Alexander Dunne converted Qualifying 1 pole into his first victory of 2026, Martinius Stenshorne completed a Rodin Motorsport 1–2, and Rafael Câmara left Azerbaijan’s Friday night as championship leader by a single point.

The race never reached its scheduled 29 laps. A Safety Car for Mari Boya’s retirement, then a red flag after a multi-car crash at Turn 3 on the Lap 12 restart, forced a timed finish. Enough distance was completed for a full points payout. Dunne’s race time was 1:11:45.095; Stenshorne finished 4.395s back, Beganovic 6.614s, Câmara 7.669s and Noel León 7.719s.

Rodin control, then Boya’s Safety Car

Sebastián Montoya never took the start. The PREMA driver spun on the way to the grid and lost drive, leaving 21 cars for lights out from Dunne’s pole.

Dunne covered Stenshorne into Turn 1. Stenshorne held León at Turn 2. Câmara jumped to fourth ahead of Boya on a clean opening lap. By Lap 3 Dunne had broken DRS range; Beganovic, fresh from his morning Sprint win, passed Kush Maini for sixth at Turn 1 on Lap 4.

The Soft/Supersoft strategy window opened around Lap 7. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov was first of the early stoppers, but a slow Campos pit drop left him last of the cars that had come in. He was also noted — and later penalised five seconds — for a pit-lane white-line infringement. Câmara meanwhile took third from León on track before the stops reshuffled the front.

Boya then slowed to a halt out of Turn 2 on Lap 8, bringing out the Safety Car. Dunne and Câmara used the neutralisation for their mandatory stops and rejoined second and fourth. Oliver Goethe and Colton Herta, still on the alternate strategy, briefly led the queue.

Red flag at Turn 3

The Safety Car peeled in at the end of Lap 11. Goethe defended from Dunne into Turn 1. Behind them Beganovic dived past Câmara for fourth, and Stenshorne climbed back through to an effective second once the pit cycle was sorted.

Then Turn 3 blocked. Contact in the pack eliminated Tsolov, Joshua Dürksen, Cian Shields, John Bennett, Laurens van Hoepen and Ritomo Miyata. Rafael Villagómez was caught in the same chaos but recovered to the pit lane and rejoined for the restart. Race control threw the red flags while marshals cleared the circuit. The restart ran to time rather than the full 29-lap distance.

Dunne clears Goethe — Câmara steals P4 on the line

Goethe led the rolling restart into Lap 13. Dunne stalked him until DRS returned; when Goethe ran slightly wide at Turn 16, Dunne retook the lead at Turn 1 to start Lap 16. Stenshorne soon made it a Rodin 1–2 again. Goethe locked up at Turn 3 under pressure, releasing Beganovic, León and Câmara into a four-car scrap for the remaining podium places.

Beganovic held third to the flag — a Sprint win and Feature podium on the same Friday. On the final straight Câmara slipstreamed past León metres from the line to take fourth and, with it, the Drivers’ Championship lead.

“Super, super happy! I feel like it’s been forever since I last won a race so to do it in the fashion today — getting the double podium today with the result in the Sprint and getting a 1–2 for the team is the cherry on top. A fantastic day! We’re both going from the front row tomorrow so if we can bring home another good result and hopefully another 1–2, that would be nice.” — Alexander Dunne, Rodin Motorsport

Title picture after Feature Race 1

Câmara leads on 182 points from Tsolov on 181. Dunne’s maximum haul lifts him to third on 174 — eight points off the lead. Gabriele Minì is fourth on 161 after finishing sixth; Beganovic climbs to fifth on 131 after his double-points Friday.

In the teams’ standings Campos remain clear on 310, Invicta sit second on 272, and Rodin’s 1–2 closes them to 267 in third. MP Motorsport (198) and DAMS Lucas Oil (166) complete the top five.

What’s next in Baku

Feature Race 2 closes the supersized Round 12 on Saturday at 11:00 local time from the Qualifying 2 grid, with Stenshorne on pole ahead of Dunne and Câmara. One more Feature remains before the championship leaves Azerbaijan.