Alexander Dunne: 'I'll leave nothing on the table' in pursuit of title

It was a positive weekend in Madrid for Alexander Dunne. The Rodin Motorsport driver made a return to the podium for the first time since Barcelona's Feature Race.

Though the Irishman has achieved four top five finishes and a further four top 10 finishes in that time, it was a good result according to Dunne, as he was pleased with single-lap and race pace all weekend.

"I feel good, I'm very happy," Dunne reflected. "I'm not normally this happy to finish second, so I'll take it while it lasts. I think it was a good weekend. Qualifying was strong, race pace was very strong. I think ultimately Dino did a very good job this weekend, his pace was very strong.

"I think he and I were probably quite a bit quicker than the rest of the grid, so I think in general the pace and that sort of thing was really strong.

"I'm very pleased, I think the team and I made a good step. One that I really hope we can continue to carry forward for the rest of the year. Overall, I think it was a very good weekend."

The Madrid Feature Race was a tricky race strategically, with an early Safety Car leaving many teams and driver split on when to make their mandatory stop.

While Dunne was initially wanting to come in at the first opportunity, so much so he had openly told his team over the radio that was his preference, the Rodin driver ran longer in the end.

It proved to be the correct choice, with another Safety Car providing him and eventual race winner Dino Beganovic the ideal opportunity to pit and emerge without losing track position.

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Dunne explained the thinking behind those early laps and how the strategy calls evolved in a race that continued to ebb and flow in and out of favour of the title contenders.

"It was really difficult. Ultimately, if there's a Safety Car on Lap 6, you can come in for a free pit stop, but then you also have the possibility of getting stuck behind someone who's slower than you. I think you need to have a massive pace advantage to be able to get past them again.

"Realistically, we made the right decision. I managed the Soft tyre as well, I was able to extend quite long and we got the chance to wait for that second Safety Car.

"If you look at Rafa and Martinius, who were behind me, they had to pit a little bit early to cover off someone who had pitted before them.

"In the end, that kind of destroyed their race. I was considering pitting not too long after they did, but I'm very glad I didn't."

With Baku up next, Dunne's weekend in Madrid closed the gap down to Championship leader Nikola Tsolov. There is still plenty of ground to make up, with 38 points separating the Irish driver in P4 and the points leader.

Round 12 will be a supersized round, with an extra Qualifying and Feature Race providing even more points, and Dunne says he'll be aiming to maximise his chances of catching the Bulgarian.

"I'm pushing hard to try and get at least in the top three. I think it's going to be difficult, but we've been improving at the moment. For sure, as a driver, I'm going to leave nothing on the table, leave it all out there. I think we should end up in a good place."