Free Practice in Baku got underway with perfect conditions, and it was Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne who made the most of the 45-minute session, topping the timesheets with a 1:55.720. The Irishman looked comfortable around the tricky street layout, steadily improving through each run before setting his best lap late in the session. His confidence in the braking zones and commitment through the castle section were noticeable, giving him a slim but decisive edge over the rest of the field.
Just behind him, Jak Crawford was only 0.049 seconds adrift for DAMS Lucas Oil, proving that the car has strong pace heading into qualifying. The American ran consistently quick laps and appeared to favor slightly longer runs, suggesting he and his team were focused on understanding tyre behavior over a stint. Dino Beganovic rounded out the top three for Hitech TGR, just 0.058 seconds off Dunne’s benchmark, showing that the top positions are likely to be fiercely contested across the weekend.
Further down the order, Luke Browning secured fourth with a tidy lap, closely followed by Rafael Villagómez for Van Amersfoort Racing, who impressed with his ability to extract performance from the car on a challenging track surface. ART Grand Prix duo Vitor Marti and Ritomo Miya both featured in the top ten, with Martins sixth fastest after some quick final laps. Prema’s Gabriele Minì was seventh and will be looking to unlock more one-lap pace before qualifying.
Overall, the session suggested a tight midfield battle is brewing, with less than a second covering the top ten runners. Drivers reported light tailwinds on the main straight and changing grip levels in Sector 2, which could make qualifying even trickier. Teams will now pore over data to fine-tune setups, as the fight for pole position on Baku’s unforgiving streets promises to be decided by the smallest of margins.
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