Latest news with #HitechTGR
Irish Examiner
31-05-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Examiner
Alex Dunne produces stunning Formula 2 drive in Barcelona to regain championship lead
Ireland's Alex Dunne overcame two grid penalties to finish second in the Barcelona sprint race and regain the championship lead in the Formula 2. The Offaly native was among seven drivers eliminated from the main race in Monaco last weekend as he was involved in a significant collision on the opening corner. Rodin Motorsport's Dunne was given a 10-place grid penalty for the sprint race, and a further three-place grid penalty after running into the back of another car when entering the pits during Friday's free practice session. That meant he would have to start Saturday's race in 19th place but he produced another remarkable drive to climb to second, finishing just behind MP Motorsport's Richard Verschoor. His runners-up place in Spain now moves the 19-year-old to the top of the standings with 76 points ahead of Sunday's feature race, where he will have that aforementioned three-place grid penalty. Dunne is just four points clear at the top of the leaderboard, just ahead of Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) on 72 points.
The 42
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- The 42
Ireland's Alex Dunne powers to another Formula 2 win
IRELAND'S ALEX DUNNE has powered to another FIA Formula 2 victory. Racing for Rodin Motorsport at Imola, the Offaly 19-year-old timed his move to perfection to win for the second time in just over a month. Advertisement Dunne secured a first-ever F2 victory for Ireland at the Bahrain Grand Prix in April. The first Irish driver to compete on the circuit, he is top of the podium again today after a recent third-placed finish in Saudi Arabia. Dunne started fifth on the grid and bided his time before surging into the lead on lap 27 and holding his position thereafter. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) finished second, with Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR) taking third. The Clonbullogue native is now top of the F2 standings on 64 points after four rounds, with Browning next in line on 58. Monte Carlo stages the next race from 22-25 May. Dunne — a McLaren development driver — competed in Formula 3 last year but made the step up to F2 for 2025, the level directly below Formula 1.
RTÉ News
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- RTÉ News
Alex Dunne sparkles in Imola to notch another F2 victory
Ireland's Alex Dunne surged to another brilliant FIA Formula 2 victory on Sunday, timing his move to perfection to win at Imola for Rodin Motorsport. Dunne is the first Irish driver to compete in the F2 having secured a 2025 drive with the Rodin team. In April, the Offaly man claimed his first grand prix victory in F2 when he won in Bahrain. He followed that up with a third-placed finish in Saudi Arabia, and has now further strenghthened his position in the championship with a second race win of the campaign. He started fifth on the grid but bided his time before overtaking AIX Racing's Joshua Durksen on lap 27 to take a lead he would not relinquish. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) was second, with Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR) third. It leaves Dunne top of the standings on 64 points after four rounds ahead of Browing (58 points) and Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport, 55 points). The next race takes place in Monte Carlo from 22 to 25 May. Earlier this month Dunne - part of the McLaren F1 driver development programme - was chosen to test a McLaren Formula One car at the Zandvoort seaside circuit in the Netherlands.
Biz Bahrain
14-04-2025
- Automotive
- Biz Bahrain
Dunne dominates Formula 2, Câmara leads Formula 3 and De Haan captures Porsche round
Robert De Haan captured double pole today for this weekend's races in the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East, being held in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2025 at Bahrain International Circuit. De Haan continued his fine form this weekend and clocked a fastest lap of 2:03.990 during qualifying to take the leading grid spot for the first race later tonight. His second-best lap of 2:04.106 then earned him pole for race two. Janne Stiak will start alongside him on row one for the first race after setting a qualifying time of 2:04.364 today. De Haan is also the leading starter in the Pro class for both races. In the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race, Rodin Motorsport driver Alexander Dunne secured an impressive maiden victory. Starting from fourth on the grid, Dunne passed Leonardo Fornaroli on lap seven to take the lead and retained control for the remainder of the 32-lap contest. Luke Browning, racing for Hitech TGR, climbed the field on an alternate tyre strategy to finish second, while Fornaroli completed the podium in third for Invicta Racing. Josep María Martí made strong progress from 11th to finish fourth, followed by Victor Martins, Richard Verschoor, and Dino Beganovic. Arvid Lindblad surged from 16th to eighth, with Gabriele Minì and Joshua Duerksen rounding out the points in ninth and tenth, respectively. In the FIA Formula 3 Feature Race, Rafael Camara made it two wins from two, converting pole position into a dominant victory in the Sakhir Feature Race, ahead of Callum Voisin and Tim Tramnitz. Polesitter Camara had a slow start, allowing Voisin to get ahead into Turn 1, but on Lap 5, he re-took the position from his Rodin Motorsport rival. From there, the Scuderia Ferrari Academy driver pulled away, winning the race by over six seconds, while Voisin settled for second. Tramnitz charged through from P13 on the grid to finish third for MP Motorsport, a late move on ART Grand Prix driver Tuukka Taponen giving him his first podium of the year. Taponen was able to hold off the other Red Bull Academy junior in the field, Nikola Tsolov, across the line to claim P4, while the Campos Racing driver took fifth. Noah Stromsted continued his strong start to the season for Trident, the Mercedes junior finishing sixth ahead of MP's Alessandro Giusti, in his Williams-liveried car. Mari Boya came through from 20th on the grid to finish eighth for Campos, ahead of the third MP car driven by Bruno del Pino, while Christian Ho rounded out the top 10 for DAMS Lucas Oil. In the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East, Robert De Haan converted his double pole into double victories. He finished 5.7 seconds ahead of Janne Stiak in race two, with Angus Whiteside completing the podium in third. Khalid Al Ahmadi claimed victory in the Pro-Am category, while Banksy topped the Masters class. BNA(R)
New York Times
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
F1 Academy levels up: Everything you need to know about the 2025 season
Winter break is finally over for F1 Academy, the all-women racing series that competes in the Formula One pyramid. The 2025 season marks the junior category's third year, and plenty of changes have been made. F1 Academy features drivers between 16 and 25, but they can only compete in the series for two years. As a result, the grid looks very different from last year, with 2024 champion Abbi Pulling, Nerea Martí and the Al Qubaisi sisters (to name a few) departing after racing for two years. The grid is also expanding, with Hitech TGR joining and fielding three cars like the other five teams. Advertisement Six drivers from the 2024 season are returning, and six have never competed in F1 Academy. The wild card entry, one of Hitech TGR's three entries, will be featured in all seven rounds. The race weekends also look different, with reverse grids returning, and the global calendar will feature three new locations. There's plenty to unpack ahead of F1 Academy's third season. Let's dive into what you need to know. Six teams. Seventeen full-time drivers. A wild card entry each round. ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing, MP Motorsport, Prema Racing, Rodin Motorsport and Hitech TGR are fielding three cars each, but there are only 17 drivers with full-time seats. The wild card entry is returning this year and will be featured each round. The wild card entries are one-off runs by drivers from the race's region, such as Chinese driver Shi Wei competing in the season opener at Shanghai International Circuit. What is different compared to last season is that the wild card drivers can score points for both the driver and team standings. Doriane Pin, who finished second in the drivers' championship last year, Tina Hausmann, Maya Weug, Chloe Chambers, Lia Block and Aurelia Nobels are returning for their second and final seasons. F1 Academy fans may recognize a few other faces, including Chloe Chong, who competed in the 2023 season, or four of the 2024 wild card entries (Nina Gademan, Alisha Palmowski, Ella Lloyd and Courtney Crone) now competing full-time. But there are several rookies, including Alba Larsen (who was mentored by former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen), Emma Felbermayr (who is navigating her first single-seater season) and Rafaela Ferreira (who became the first woman to secure a podium finish and win in Brazilian F4). The 10 F1 teams still support 10 drivers on the grid, as is Red Bull Ford. Other partners supporting a driver include American Express, Charlotte Tilbury, Puma, Tommy Hilfiger and TAG Heuer. Heading into the 2025 season, Pin is the favorite after securing 217 points last campaign, 121 points behind Pulling. Weug, though, saw a late-season surge in performance, winning the last race of the year in Abu Dhabi. The 2025 calendar, which aligns with F1's schedule, will feature 14 races across seven rounds, six countries and three continents, expanding the series' global reach. Only one venue, Zandvoort in the Netherlands, has been part of all three calendars, while three new tracks will join this year. One of those locations is Las Vegas, where F1 Academy had a presence last year during the F1 weekend. Advertisement 'It was one of those questions of, 'Where do we go racing?'. To put a season finale here, it's the dream for everyone,' said Emily Prazer, F1 chief commercial officer and president and CEO of the Las Vegas GP, last year. 'We don't have three or four different support races for F1 Academy to compete with. It will give it the exposure it deserves. 'The U.S. audience are really obsessed with women's sport, and we love that, so we wanted to marry it together and own it. Obviously, they'll be in Miami as well. So it gives a really nice narrative, May and November to start and close it out.' F1 Academy race weekends stretch across three days, and a maximum of 39 points is up for grabs for the drivers, while the team could secure 86 points. Changes have been made to the format for 2025 — the reverse grid is returning. The calendar currently shows one practice session (40 minutes long), one qualifying session (30 minutes long), and two races each weekend. The top eight drivers in qualifying will be reversed for the starting grid of Race 1, while ninth to 18th will stay where they qualified. Points will only be awarded to the top eight finishers of Race 1, and the driver who sets the fastest lap among the top eight will receive an additional point. Race 2 will feature a standard starting grid based on the qualifying results. The points distribution is the same as F1 for the second race, and two points will be given to the driver who starts at pole position. Like Race 1, the driver who sets the fastest lap will receive a point, though they'll need to finish in the top 10. This change is anticipated to make it harder for a single driver to dominate across the season as Pulling did in 2024. But it also aligns F1 Academy with other junior categories. Reverse grids are used in Formula Two and Formula Three sprint races. The car will remain unchanged from last year. The drivers will race in identical cars similar to Formula Four cars, such as the chassis designed by Tatuus Automobili, which is the same as British, Italian, and Spanish F4s. However, a noticeable difference further aligns F1 Academy with F1. At the request of Liberty Media and F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff, the front and rear wings were adjusted to be more similar to F1. Advertisement 'We found that as a good compromise between what we can do and what we cannot do on a Formula Four because the rear wing is not homologated,' Tatuus CEO Giovanni Delfino said in 2024. 'So you can do more or less what you want in terms of homologation, even if it's not recognized as a Formula Four wing. In (the) case of the front wing, then we had to keep some of the design of the Formula Four because it's linked to the noses.' This level of car allows drivers to train and adapt while they gain crucial on-track experience at F1 circuits. As for the specifics, the cars have 1.4 liter turbo-charged, four-cylinder engines and can hit top speeds of 240km/h (149.129 mph). 'If you want to make it safe and at the same time interesting enough to really train them and to allow them to really step from go-karts to maybe Formula Regional or Euro Cup or F3, you need this in-between,' F1 Academy competition manager Delphine Biscaye said in 2024. 'F1 Academy is giving them a huge training on track but also off track with all the support they have from the F1 team or from their F1 Academy team as well.' There are quite a few ways fans can follow along with F1 Academy this season, starkly contrasting year one, when they had to either follow along on social media for 'live multi-media updates' or monitor the live timings via F1 Academy's website. Highlight videos were released, and a 15-minute program aired midweek. Now, F1 Academy will be aired live in over 160 territories (here is the full list of broadcasters), or fans can watch qualifying and the races on the F1 Academy platforms on YouTube and X or on F1 TV. One big update coming into 2025 was that the beIN Media Group extended its deal until 2033, broadcasting F1 Academy throughout the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and Turkey. For those who watch via ESPN, the media company will have live coverage on its platforms, including ESPN+.
