F2 title hopeful Dunne completes IndyCar test

Key points

• Alex Dunne tested an IndyCar for Dale Coyne Racing at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on Monday.
• Dunne is second in the Formula 2 standings, 18 points behind F1-bound leader Rafael Camara with two rounds left.
• Dunne said Formula 1 remains his goal but IndyCar has always been his next preferred option.

Formula 2 title challenger Alex Dunne has completed an IndyCar test in Alabama as he considers a move to the USA in 2027. The 20-year-old from Ireland tested for Dale Coyne Racing at Barber Motorsports Park on Monday.

Dunne is an Alpine junior driver and sits second in Formula 2, which supports Formula 1 on Grand Prix weekends. He has one win and nine podiums in his second F2 season and trails F1-bound leader Rafael Camara by 18 points, with rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi still to come.

Limited F1 seats for 2027

With seats in Formula 1 limited for 2027, Dunne is weighing his options. He has been linked to a third F2 season, but cannot return to the series next year if he wins the championship.

Dale Coyne Racing has not announced its 2027 driver plans. American teenager Nikita Johnson tested alongside Dunne on Monday, and Dunne set the fastest time in a morning session that included American-born Conor Daly.

The car, the track, everything. I loved it all.

— Alex Dunne

What Dunne said

Dunne said he enjoyed the test and found the car more powerful and with more downforce than he is used to. He said Formula 1 would always be the goal, but that IndyCar has always been his next preferred option.

Britain's Louis Foster will drive the full 2027 IndyCar season for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The 2027 calendar includes a round in Barcelona in July. Portadown's Adam Carroll was the last driver from the island of Ireland to race in IndyCar, in two races in 2010.