Alex Dunne

Dunne began karting at the age of eight, taking a number of victories in local competitions.^[4] He would then progress to national competitions in 2015, winning the Motorsport Ireland 'IRL' and '0' Plates and also taking home the Ironside Trophy. That year he would also make his first competitive appearance outside of Ireland, racing in the Super 1 National Championship in the United Kingdom. Following two years of competing on the British Isles, Dunne started racing in mainland Europe in 2018. He would stay in European karting until 2020, with his highlight being winning the WSK Champions Cup in 2019.^[5]

Dunne made his single-seater racing debut in 2021, racing for Pinnacle Motorsport in the F4 Spanish Championship.^[6] His season started out in positive fashion, as he scored a pole position on debut and, having fallen back to fifth owing to a poor start, finished third in his first ever race.^[7] However, following just three rounds him and the team parted ways, leaving the Irishman 16th in the overall standings by season's end.

It was announced in September of the same year that Dunne would be joining US Racing as part of their ADAC F4 Championship line-up.^[8] At his first round at the Hockenheimring, the Irish driver picked up two second places, with his next appearance at the track yielding a pair of pole positions. He finished eighth in the standings, beating a number of full-time competitors.

At the beginning of 2022, Dunne competed in the F4 UAE Championship for Hitech GP in preparation for his European campaign.^[9] He would achieve his first ever win in car racing at the Dubai Autodrome through unusual circumstances, as, during a red flag, all drivers bar Dunne parked up in the pitlane instead of the start/finish straight, giving them all a five-second penalty.^[10] Despite being overtaken by Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the restart, the Irishman remained closely behind the Italian to take victory. He would win another race during the final round of the championship, as he finished sixth in the standings.

For his European season, Dunne stayed with US Racing to compete in the Italian F4 Championship, partnering Kacper Sztuka, Marcus Amand, Pedro Perino and Nikhil Bohra.^[11] In the first round of the campaign at Imola, Dunne amassed a triple of podiums, having overtaken PHM Racing's Nikita Bedrin in the dying embers of Race 1 to pick up second place and having stormed to the front in Race 2, holding off a fast-charging Rafael Câmara until the checkered flag.^[12] Despite losing control of the car in Race 3 after hitting a sausage kerb on lap one, the Irishman was able to recover to third. However, despite a podium at Misano and another one at Spa-Francorchamps, he would be shuffled out of the top two in the championship, being overtaken by Prema drivers Rafael Câmara and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Irishman came back to winning ways at the Red Bull Ring, taking two victories and an additional podium, thus narrowing the gap to his two competitors.^[13] However, despite three second-placed finishes in the remaining two events, Dunne would have to settle for second in the standings, with Antonelli having attained an unassailable lead during the season finale.

During the same year, Dunne also raced in the British F4 series with Hitech.^[14] He started his season out in commanding fashion, winning the pair of main races at the season opener at Donington Park, whilst taking second in the reversed-grid race.^[15] The following round at Brands Hatch would provide mixed results, as, despite a dominant win in Race 1, Dunne ended up finishing out of the points in both other races.^[16] Round 3 at the Thruxton Circuit would once again bring success, with the Irishman winning races 1 and 3 and extending his championship lead, having experienced a hard battle with Carlin driver Ugo Ugochukwu on Saturday.^[17] Dunne once again won the opening race at the next round held at Oulton Park,^[18] but he would only finish third in Race 3, having lost out to Louis Sharp and Oliver Gray at the start.^[19] The Irish driver experienced a difficult start to the event at Croft, finishing seventh in Race 1, although Dunne was able to take advantage from a stall by poleman Georgi Dimitrov in Race 2 to take victory.^[20] In Sunday's main race, which Dunne started from tenth, he clawed his way back to third place by the checkered flag, with his closest championship rival Gray closing the gap between the pair by winning the race.^[21] After a less successful round at Knockhill, Dunne bounced back with a pair of victories in the main races at Snetterton and Thruxton respectively, thus setting a new record for most victories in a single British F4 season.^[22][23] At the penultimate round in Silvestone, Dunne finished on the podium in Race 1 despite being involved in a collision with Gray, and took another third place in the final race of the event.^[24][25] Despite missing the final round, instead having chosen to complete his campaign in Italian F4, Dunne was crowned champion at the final weekend, with his points gap having been insurmountable.^[26]

For the 2023 season, Dunne progressed to the GB3 Championship, returning to Hitech Grand Prix.^[27][28] At the beginning of his season, he will compete in the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Hitech Grand Prix, for the final two rounds.^[29]

After his first weekend venture in an F3 car at Imola, in which he set the fastest time on a rain affected test, Dunne finished first, over six seconds ahead of the man that beat him to the GB3 Championship, Callum Voisin, impressing many fans and sponsorship teams alike.^[30] This led to him gaining a place for the Hitech Pulse-Eight team at the aclaimed Macau Grand Prix. Dunne impressed on his initial runs coming 5th in Q1,^[31] 6th in Q2,^[32] eventually leaving him in 6th for the qualifying race. In which he swiftly moved up to 2nd thanks to a brave move on Gabriele Minì. He remained there, thanks to a stellar drive from teammate Luke Browning.^[33] However, misery would pile in the main race as he crashed out, misjudging his braking point while trying to overtake Browning.^[34]

Dunne is set to return to the Macau Grand Prix in 2024, albeit in Formula Regional machinery, with SJM Theodore Prema Racing.

Dunne joined MP Motorsport for the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship, completing the team's lineup alongside Red Bull juniors Kacper Sztuka and Tim Tramnitz.^[35]

Ahead of the 2024 Imola Formula 3 round in May, Dunne was announced to be joining the McLaren Driver Development Programme.^[36]

He is the son of Noel Dunne, a former racing driver who won the Irish Formula Ford F1600 series on two occasions.^[37]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

• Alex Dunne career summary at DriverDB.com