Alex Dunne bounced back from a Saturday sprint setback to boost his Formula 2 title hopes with a provisional second place finish in the British Grand Prix feature race at a rain-sodden Silverstone.
Having failed to finish the sprint race the previous day following an early collision that dropped him back to fourth in the drivers' championship standings, the Offaly teenager put that in the rearview mirror with a podium finish on Sunday after taking the chequered flag second, just behind US rival Jak Crawford.
However, with doubts about whether Crawford made his pit entry before a late Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was called - an infringement which could result in a penalty - there was a possibility that the provisional classification could still have been subsequently altered and Dunne upgraded to the top step of the podium at the American's expense.
Dunne, who had qualified second on the grid for the feature race behind pole-sitter Victor Martins, was around 1.5 seconds behind Crawford for much of the grand prix until it entered the final ten laps and by the end of lap 21 of 29, the Irishman had closed that gap to just half a second.
He then assumed the lead on lap 24 when Crawford came in for his mandatory pit stop following a VSC period - although it was unclear if the American had got to the pit entry before it was called - it ultimately was upgraded to a full safety car a lap later.
Dunne came in for his mandatory pitstop shortly after, dropping behind Crawford as a result, although the 19-year-old crucially just held onto second place ahead of British driver Luke Browning.
The safety car ended on lap 27 but any hopes that Dunne had of overtaking Crawford on track was ended following another safety car on the penultimate lap.
Crawford crossed the line first to take the full 25-point allocation for victory ahead of Dunne who narrowly missed out on a third F2 victory of the season after previous feature race triumphs in Bahrain and Imola.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Dunne was satisfied with the 18-point haul that has moved him up to third in the standings, 14 points behind championship leader Richard Verschoor.
"It would have been nice to have a fight (with Crawford) but in the end the result is still pretty good. To score good points after what happened last week is good for the championship," he said.
Earlier this month, Dunne became the first Irishman to feature in a Formula One grand prix weekend for 22 years when he took part in Friday first practice ahead of last week's Austrian Grand Prix.
The McLaren development driver impressed on the day, setting the fourth fastest time overall, whilst sitting in for Lando Norris, who is currently second in the F1 drivers' championship.
