Irish Kart Racing star Alex Dunne, from Clonbullogue, will be back in action over the coming weeks as he tackles two events over two weekends at Portimao, the 2020 Portuguese Formula One Grand Prix venue, to finish off his shortened 2020 season.

Ireland’s only International Karting competitor will tackle the ‘OK’ World Championship from November 5th to 8th at the Algarve track, following a warm-up ‘Champions of the Future’ event the previous weekend at the same venue. The former European Junior Karting front runner is looking to use the Portuguese double header to get back to the front of the pack as he completes his first year in senior Karting competition.

The shortened 2020 season has seen the Offaly teenager compete in just two European Championship events, with strong showings in both. Despite his limited running, Alex’s performances led to him being offered a drive with the Energy Kart team for the two end of season races. His first experience of the team came at a recent, very successful, test in Italy and he will now line up as an Energy Kart factory driver at the Future Stars and World Championship events.

2020 is Dunne’s first year in Senior racing and at just fourteen years old he will be one of the youngest drivers competing in the ‘OK’ World Championship. Senior racing classes are contested by drivers from fourteen years old and upwards and many of the drivers the Irish racer will compete against are much older, full time professional Kart racers, with years of experience under their belts.

Alex has previously raced against many of this seasons’ world championship line-up, in the OK Junior category, and knows that he can compete at the front, having taken wins in heats and finals against similar opposition. Being part of the factory Energy Kart team has given the Senior racing rookie some new motivation and he is looking forward to getting back to the form that saw him challenge at the front throughout the 2019 European Karting Championship.

“It’s great to be going back to a World Championship Karting event for the first time since 2018, especially having missed out on so many races this year due to the global pandemic”. Said Alex on the announcement that he would be joining Energy Kart in Portugal. “I’m very happy to have linked up with Energy for these two events and I’m going there looking to repay them by challenging for the World title. I have to thank the team and all of my supporters who have helped to make this happen, particularly Reynolds Logistics, VTL, Artisan marble and NEA designs for sticking with me during such an unusual season.”

Alex’s progress in Portugal can be followed on livestreams from both events. Updates on his progress and links to results and live timing will be available here on his web site during the events.

Teenage Irish Karting sensation, Alex Dunne, continued to impress as he tackled round two of the European OK Junior Championship in Genk, Belgium, over the weekend of May 17th to 19th.

The Offaly youngster put together his strongest weekend yet, taking three wins from five heats before fighting his way to second in the final, to move to third in the championship standings as the series reaches its half way mark.

Racing at the Belgian track for the first time, Dunne was in contention from the start as he took fifth place in qualifying, from a field of over ninety drivers, to ensure he would start from the front row of the grid in all of his heats. A flying start to his first heat saw Alex move into the lead on lap one and then hold on to take a lights to flag victory.

At the start of heat two the Newbridge College student dropped back to fourth, but he soon reasserted himself and was back in the lead by half distance, from where he took a comfortable second victory. Heat three was one of the toughest for the Clonbullogue resident and having led initially he got bumped back down the order to third. Another determined performance saw him fight back to second but he ran out of time in the short nine lap heat and had to settle for the runner-up spot.

The fourth heat once again saw Alex get away in the lead group and he gradually picked up places, moving into second spot in the closing laps. light rain began to fall with two laps to go making conditions very tricky for the drivers, who were all on slick tyres. Alex had settled for getting safely home in second but a downpour during the final lap caught out the leader and most of the rest of the field, as Alex used all of his skill to keep his Kart on track and survived to take his third heat win of the day.

Going in to Sunday’s final heat Alex knew that a top six finish would be enough to get a front row start for the final. With many of his rivals pushing hard for final places, the thirteen year old drove a mature race, allowing his rivals to battle for the win while he picked up fifth to secure second on the grid for the final.

Having had an excellent set-up on his Tony Kart throughout the heats Alex went into the extended, nineteen lap final, full of confidence. A superb start saw the Irish driver sitting second for the first four laps before he made his move for the lead. Taking over at the front at the beginning of lap five, Alex then pulled out a comfortable advantage which he maintained for much of the race. As the laps counted down however Alex’s Kart set up, which had worked so well all weekend, left him unable to maintain his pace for the longer race distance and he lost the lead with just two laps to go.

At the flag the youngster was obviously disappointed at missing out on his first European Championship win but was still very happy with his weekends work. “I have to thank my team for giving me such a great Kart all weekend” said Alex after the final. “The set up we had enabled me to take three heat wins and a front row starting position for the final. I know now that working with the Tony Kart team my first win is not far away. We are in a great position in the championship now, so we’ll move on to the next round in Sweden and hopefully go one better and take the win.”

The next European Karting championship outing for Alex Dunne is in Kristianstad, Sweden, from May 30th to June 2nd.

Offaly based teenager Alex Dunne made an impressive start to the 2019 European Karting Championship at the Sarno circuit in southern Italy this weekend, as he took three wins from his four heats, fastest race lap and second in the Pre-Final. Unfortunately for the young Irish racer he was taken out in the final, bringing a premature end to his very positive weekend.

Friday’s qualifying saw Alex right on the pace as he continued to get used to his new Tony Kart team. On only his second event with the Italian outfit he finished fastest in Group 1 with second quickest time overall, to put him on the front row of the grid for all of his heats.

Friday’s first race saw the Clonbullogue resident start from pole and he was never headed as won by almost a second. For race two Alex sat second on the grid, behind the fastest driver from qualifying. Away from the lights the Irish driver was comfortable in second place and stayed there until lap three when he moved past to take a lead he would hold onto until the chequered flag.

Heat three saw Alex again leading from lights to flag, this time building up a huge winning margin by Karting standards of 2.5 seconds. Alex also initially led the fourth heat but on lap four he was overtaken for the first time all weekend and dropped to third. The Tony Kart driver was soon back to second and fighting for the top spot but a small mistake on lap eight, while right on the tail of the leader, saw him run off the track and drop to twentieth at the flag.

Dunne’s heat four finish meant a third row start for the Pre-Final. Once the lights changed to green the teenager once again showed his ability as he battled back to second by the flag to line up fourth for the final.

The final started well, with Alex running strongly at the tail of the lead group. As the leaders battled, the field began to close and Alex was caught by the leader of the chasing pack, who on closing the gap, immediately attempted an impossible overtaking manoeuvre, knocking the Irish driver out of the final.

Despite failing to finish the final Alex Dunne left the European Championship opener with his best ever position in the standings, as his points from the Heats and Pre-Final were enough to leave him seventh overall. Next up for the youngster is the CIK European Championship opening round at Angerville, France, on April 18th – 21st.