QUALIFYING: Rodin sweep Baku sessions as Dunne and Stenshorne take poles

Rodin Motorsport dominated Thursday afternoon in Baku, securing a 1-2 result in both Qualifying sessions.

Alexander Dunne took his first Aramco Pole Position Award of the season in Qualifying 1 with a 1:55.383. But in Qualifying 2, Martinius Stenshorne bettered him by over four-tenths on a 1:53.728 to take his first Aramco Pole Position Award.

QUALIFYING 1

Oliver Goethe was the first driver to complete a time, putting a 1:59.374 on the board. But the times dropped immediately with Dunne quickest on a 1:55.383, with Kush Maini his closest rival in P2, 0.230s behind.

There was plenty of squabbling for track position ahead of the next flying laps. However Stenshorne made it a Rodin 1-2, going to within 0.033s of his teammate.

Noel León jumped up to third for Campos, over a tenth back of Dunne’s leading time.

With six minutes left in the session, the drivers again battled for track position. Dunne locked up on his next lap into Turn 1, and he was joined off the track by Gabriele Minì and Roman Bilinski.

There were no changes at the front however, although Câmara benefited from a tow from Invicta Racing teammate Joshua Duerksen down the main straight to go up to fifth.

In the battle for the championship, Nikola Tsolov was struggling to put a lap together. He then pitted from P9, leaving him at risk of missing out of the top 10.

One of those looking to demote him was title rival Minì, who was down in P14. But the MP Motorsport driver could not improve on his last attempt, leaving him down the order for both Friday races.

But no one could match Dunne, who achieved his first pole position of the season ahead of Stenshorne, León, Maini, and Câmara. Mari Boya was sixth ahead of PREMA Racing teammate Sebastián Montoya.

Dino Beganovic’s late improvement put him eighth in front of Laurens van Hoepen, as Tsolov rounded out the top 10 – leaving the Championship leader on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

QUALIFYING 2

After a short break the drivers made their way back out on track. León then set the pace with a 1:54.477 but was quickly demoted by Câmara, who eclipsed him by 0.250s.

The Brazilian driver ran wide at Turn 1 on his next lap, but there were no notable improvements on the second push attempts, with some teams bringing their drivers in for another set of Supersofts.

Rodin brought Dunne and Stenshorne in, while Campos’ day was done with León and Tsolov watching on from the pitlane, with Câmara later joining them.

Back out on track, Maini went up to second place but was down to third almost immediately as Boya went second.

But as the chequered flag was waved, the timing screens were being set alight as Dunne went to provisional pole with a 1:54.173.

However, Stenshorne was flying and completed a 1:53.728 to eclipse his teammate by 0.445s – giving Rodin another 1-2 and the Norwegian a first Aramco Pole Position Award.

Câmara wound up third ahead of Boya, with Maini fifth. León was sixth ahead of Van Hoepen and Tsolov, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvsak in ninth as Montoya rounded out the top 10.

Join us tomorrow morning for the Sprint Race, where lights out is set for 08:15 local time. The drivers will then be back out on track for Feature Race 1 in the afternoon at 14:15 local time.