Fifteen year old Alex Dunne has this week announced that he will make his car racing debut in 2021, driving for Pinnacle Motorsport, the hugely successful Irish team with bases in Kildare, Malaysia and China. The Offaly teenager will begin his quest to become a Grand Prix star in the Spanish F4 Championship, part of the FIA’s global feeder series for International Formula 3 and the recognised first step on the road from Karting to Formula One.

Having spent a number of successful seasons in European Karting, Alex is now ready to make the move to Car Racing and will do so with the support of Motorsport Ireland’s new Race Academy. Preparations for the season are well underway with Alex’s F4 car already being prepared at Pinnacle’s Kildare base for its first shakedown run, before the team travels to Spa Francorchamps in Belgium for the first test of the season in early April.

Pinnacle Motorsport is run by former Irish Champion and Asian F3 race winner John O’Hara and the team has a wealth of experience competing at all levels across Asia, including race and championship wins in Asian F3 and F4. Driving for Pinnacle will be the perfect start for Alex as he is already familiar with the team personnel and he will be the teams’ sole driver in the Spanish F4 series.

The Spanish Championship is one of a number of regional FIA Formula 4 series which have been designed to provide Kart racers with the perfect first step into Car Racing and it should see Alex going head to head once again against a number of his old karting rivals. The series will take the drivers to three current Formula One venues as they travel around Europe, beginning in April with Spa, the home of the Belgian GP. The seven event calendar will also include trips to the Portuguese Grand Prix venue, Portimao, and November’s season finale in Barcelona.

The move from Karting to Car racing is always a challenge for young racers but Alex is looking forward to getting to grips with his new car and is happy with preparations so far. “I’ve been doing a lot of work over the winter, with my physical training and also learning the tracks through sim racing, so I’m ready now for the real thing. This is a very exciting step especially with racing at such amazing venues as Spa and Portimao. The team will be a great fit for me as I know John already and I know he will help me to learn the car and achieve my goal of challenging for race wins and the championship. A lot of work has gone into putting this season together and I have to thank all of my backers, Motorsport Ireland, VTL, Harris, Maxus, Reynolds, Artisan and NEA Designs as without their support I would not have this opportunity. I just want to get started now and I can’t wait to get back racing.”

Speaking about the season ahead Pinnacle Motorsport team owner John O’Hara said. “We’ve been following Alex’s progress at the highest level of Karting over the past couple of years so we are really looking forward to working with him as we tackle the Spanish series for the first time. We’ve had a lot of success in Asia and we are aiming to replicate that in Europe with Alex. Initially it will be about building Alex’s experience and confidence in the car but by the end of the season we will be aiming to challenge at the front and win races.”

Alex Dunne’s Spanish F4 campaign starts with Rounds 1, 2 and 3 on April 24th and 25th and his progress can be followed on the championships live stream on www.f4spain.org.

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Alex Dunne was forced to retire, not once but twice, from the Karting World Championship in Portugal on Sunday when an unexpected rain storm turned the final on its head. Having driven really well in his heats, to make up for an unusually low qualifying position, the Clonbullogue teenager lined up seventeenth for the final and was all set for a push towards the front until the change in weather conditions brought his challenge to an end.

Seventy five of the worlds best Kart Racers lined up for qualifying at the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal, with the World title in their sights. Alex ran in the third of four, eight minute, qualifying sessions on Friday and was unfortunate to not get a single clear lap, from the six he completed, leaving the only Irish representative in the World Championship ninth in his session and starting fourteenth for all four of his heats.

In a hugely competitive field of highly experienced drivers, fighting through to the front from fourteenth was always going to be tough for Alex, who was tackling his first World title event as a senior driver and his first with the Energy Kart team. Some impressive driving in Saturday’s heats did however see the young Irish driver pick up best finishes of fifth and sixth, to easily secure a slot on the grid for the final, in seventeenth place.

Having completed all of his heats on Saturday, Alex had to watch as those drivers with heats to complete on Sunday morning got a chance to get some experience in the now soaking wet conditions. Taking to the track for his first wet race of the weekend Alex’s aim was to try and avoid the expected early race incidents and stay in contention for what would be a very long, nineteen lap final. Unfortunately things did not go to plan, as on the opening lap the Offaly racer went off track avoiding, a spinning kart, and got stuck on the by now extremely muddy track-side grass.

It looked like it was all over for Dunne, but a red flag at the end of the opening lap earned him a reprieve as the race was set to be restarted using the original grid. With limited time, the Energy Kart team had just one option, which was to put Alex out on his dry weather Kart, and with the track looking set to dry up, the youngster was still in with a chance. Soon after the restart however the conditions worsened and with his Kart virtually impossible to keep on the track, Alex was forced to retire from the final for the second time.

Speaking after the race the extremely disappointed teenager said, “That was a tough weekend. Following ninth place in my qualifying session we knew things were going to be difficult. In such a strong field starting so far back in every heat meant that it was going to be virtually impossible to make the front few rows for the final. When I saw the rain I thought that if I could make it through the first couple of laps I could make progress but when you start in the midfield there’s always the chance that you will get caught up in something and that’s exactly what happened. I feel very disappointed for everyone involved, all of my sponsors, especially Reynolds Logistics, VTL, Artisan Marble and NEA Designs, along with the Energy Kart team and my parents, who put so much effort into getting me into the World final. I don’t know what 2021 holds for me yet, but I’d love another go at this event next year to try and put things right.”

Alex Dunne has now completed his short 2020 Karting season and is already working on the next step of his career. A number of options remain open to him in Karting but other options, including graduating to Car Racing are being considered.

Following last weekends’ warm up event at the Kartódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal, Alex Dunne returns to the same venue this weekend for the biggest race of his career so far, where he will be Ireland’s only representative at the FIA Karting World Championship.

The Portimao event sees the fourteen year old from County Offaly tackle his first Senior Karting World Championship. Racing in the ‘OK’ Category, for drivers from fourteen years old and upwards, Alex will drive for the works Energy Kart team, as their sole senior driver at World Championship level, against an experienced field of eighty drivers from twenty six countries.

Last weekends warm up event saw Alex working with the Energy Kart team for the first time at a race weekend and both he and the team treated it as testing and preparation for the World Championship. Having started off with a strong qualifying performance, the team then worked through a variety of chassis settings in order to find the optimum set up for this weekend. Despite not running the same settings two races in a row, the Clonbullogue teenager still managed a string of good results to qualify tenth for the pre-final.

Problems in the pre-final, which would decide the grid for the final, dropped Alex down the order and left him with a major task, as he would start thirtieth for the deciding race. Having made a good start the Irish driver then lost valuable track time when he went off on the first lap, avoiding an incident between two other drivers, damaged his Kart and had to retire from the race.

Speaking about his preparations for the World Championship, Alex was happy with the progress made on his first trip to the Portuguese track. “Looking at the results it seemed like an up and down weekend, but it was actually very positive as we were trying loads of different things on the Kart to see what would and would not work. I learned loads and I now have a very good idea of which way to go on set-up for this weekend.

We had good speed in last Friday’s qualifying and the first heat, and the set-up we initially used, along with the changes we tried, will make me a strong contender this weekend. The atmosphere in the team is really good and I know that everything is now in place to have a really good run this weekend and I’m going back to Portimao aiming to win the World title.”

Alex Dunne’s progress through the three days of the World Championship can be followed on the FIA Karting website and social media channels, as well as through the event livestream on Saturday and Sunday. For more information on Alex and links to the event timing and livestream see www.alexdunneracing.com.