Archive July 27, 2025

After receiving a 10-second penalty, Ireland’s Alex Dunne was denied entry to the Formula 2 feature race in Belgium.

The race started behind the safety car at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday after Dunne, 19, had already placed in pole position.

The McLaren Development Driver won his third F2 race of the season when racing started.

Dunne was penalized by 10 seconds, however, because he “did not engage the start set-up procedure at the formation lap.”

Arvid Lindblad, a British Red Bull Junior driver, was disqualified from second place after third-place finisher Roman Stanek won the race on the road.

In the F2 standings, Richard Verschoor and Dunne had previously held the lead, but he now sits fourth behind the Dutch driver, who in turn is trailing behind Leonardo Fornaroli, the new championship leader and sprint race winner.

On social media, Dunne wrote, “Definitely hurts to have the win taken away for something that has no impact on the race.”

Dunne in Belgium had a dominating weekend, winning by 0.421 seconds in dry conditions during the practice period.

He placed second behind Dutch driver with a pole position lead and finished seventh in the reverse grid sprint race, gaining two points from Verschoor.

The Formula 3 race had to be postponed due to the heavy rain that hit the Belgian circuit on Sunday morning, but conditions improved so that the F2 race could begin behind the safety car, which was a different start procedure that ultimately resulted in his penalty.

After the first pit stops, Dunne held on for a four-second lead before the race even began, despite a brief challenge from Japan’s Ritomo Miyata.

His fast pit stop allowed him to rejoin the race in fourth place, behind unistalling drivers, thanks to Rodin Motorsport’s quick turnaround.

Then, to regain the lead, Dunne produced a stunning overtake past Ollie Goethe and pulled away from Stanek and Lindblad around the outside of Pouhon bend.

Sebastian Montoya, who had five laps to go before he spun at Eau Rouge, was in a late safety car.

When Goethe’s engine expired with two laps to go, the Colombian’s car was still being recovered, causing race control to red flag the event, which allowed Dunne to take the chequered flag unchallenged.

At the start of the race, behind the safety car, Dunne was immediately penalized for the infringement.

According to FIA documents, Dunne and his Rodin team “decided not to activate the set-up procedure” and that they had consulted with engineers prior to leaving the grid.

In what was Dunne’s most comprehensive debut for the Formula 2 season to date, the error cost him, but Fornaroli now has 11 points after the penalty.

After being disqualified from the feature race in Austria for excessive plank wear on the skid block of his car, Dunne has lost a podium finish twice in three rounds.

After round 10/14

1. 125 – Leonardo Fornaroli (ITA)

2. Richard Verschoor (NED) 122

3. Jak Crawford (USA) 116

4. Alex Dunne (IRL) 114

According to touring captain Shubman Gill, pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah could play in the final Test against England at The Oval.

Before the series, the visitors had previously stated that India would receive a 2-2 draw if they won the series’ finale despite star man Bumrah’s commitment to only playing three Test matches.

Gill told Test Match Special, “I think it would be a great deal for us if he feels like he’s fully fit and available for us.”

“We have the right kind of bowling attack,” I continue to believe despite not saying it.

The series has seen the take 14 wickets from Bumrah, the best bowler in the world. There isn’t more India bowlers.

However, the 31-year-old struggled with pace and potency in England’s only four-overs in the drawn fourth Test at Old Trafford, recording a 2-112 from 33 balls.

Gill should not show his hand on Bumrah, according to former England captain Alastair Cook, who said Thursday’s fifth Test was when the fifth Test would begin.

You wouldn’t tell people right away, just on a purely tactical basis, Cook said in Test Match Special.

“You get thrown into a situation where the series is still on the line,” they said at the start of the series.

The right decision to not play is made if he’s not fit for the game.

After missing the fourth Test with a groin injury, Gill confirmed that Akash Deep, a fellow seamer with Bumrah, will be available at The Oval.

However, Rishabh Pant, who had a broken foot in Manchester, will miss the final Test. Narayan Jagadeesan, the uncapped wicketkeeper for Tamil Nadu, has been called up as cover.

When Chris Woakes was attempting a reverse-sweep against Pant on the first day, he was struck on the right foot. He eventually increased to 54 after retiring hurt on day two, and then returned to bat once more on day two.

Gautam Gambhir, an Indian coach, said, “Any amount of praise is not enough for him to bat with a broken foot.” Generations to come ought to discuss this, not a person who batted with a broken foot.

“I hope he recovers and returns to our rescue right away.”

Gambhir added that he is “all in favor” of the introduction of Test-play replacements. A player’s replacement is currently only permitted if they have a concussion.

The fourth Test, which India managed to pull off, kept England’s lead at 2-1.

Before lunch on day four, the away side were 0-2 after going 311 runs behind in the opening innings.

However, they held on for the next five sessions to draw Manchester. With 10 overs to go before a draw was agreed, Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar all scored centuries to give India a 425-4 lead.

Tadej Pogacar won his fourth Tour title on the final day of this year’s Tour de France, but Wout van Aert denied him a prestigious victory.

Prior to the final day, when only the stage win would be contested in Paris, reigning champion Pogacar had a lead of more than four minutes.

The 26-year-old made his debut in a six-man breakaway during a thrilling finale on the same circuit that was used for the previous year’s Olympic race in the capital of France as it started to rain.

However, Van Aert attacked on the final and third escarpment to the Sacre Coeur de Montmartre Basilica, extending his lead over the final 5 kilometers to claim victory on the Champs-Elysees.

The versatile Belgian crossed the line 19 seconds before a group of three riders, including Pogacar, to claim his 10th Tour victory following a frustrating Tour.

With only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain ahead of them (five wins), Pogacar held his hand in the air as he finished to celebrate reaching level with British rider Chris Froome for all-time Tour victories.

Pogacar also won the King of the Mountains title a third time, making him the first reigning world road champion to do so since Greg LeMond in 1990.

Florian Lipowitz came third in the overall classification standings, four minutes 24 seconds clear of Pogacar.

For the first time since last month’s Criterium du Dauphine, which was regarded as the final Tour warm-up, was a podium podium was created.

Pogacar’s fourth Tour de France victory puts the Slovenian superstar’s remarkable 12-month reign as the sport’s dominant force.

Pogacar won four of his final five races in 2024, taking the road world title for the first time since September 2012, when Jonas Vingegaard reclaimed the title from Vingegaard last year.

Pogacar then won six of his nine races before the Tour starting at the beginning of this year. He won both of the stage competitions he entered, the UAE Tour and the Criterium du Dauphine, and he placed fourth overall in the other three one-day classics.

He also had twice as many points as his closest competition, Remco Evenepoel, putting him at the top of the UCI rankings prior to the Tour.

Anyone hoping for another epic battle for the yellow jersey over the past three weeks was disappointed because Pogacar and two-time Tour winner Vingegaard have developed one of the greatest rivalries in sport over the past five years.

Vingegaard was only eight seconds behind Pogacar in stage four, but the Dane added a minute to Pogacar’s overall lead for the first time in the time trial the day after the race started.

Pogacar won the famous Mur-de-Bretagne climb to reclaim the “maillot jaune” after not only surviving his first major test in stage seven, but also by beating his former teammate.

Vingegaard stayed with Pogacar over the course of the next few days, with Ireland’s Ben Healy wearing the yellow jersey for two days. However, Pogacar experienced panic on stage 11 during one of the stage 11 panics.

He fell 4 kilometers from the line, but Pogacar, one of his GC rivals, surprisingly chose not to attack, allowing him to catch up and finish in the peloton.

The following day, Pogacar won this year’s first summit finish and first true mountain stage to add two more minutes to Vingegaard, may have regretted that choice.

For the rest of the Tour, he would remain in yellow and finish the day’s mountain time trial victory, placing him 21st overall.

When the race reached the Pyrenees and the Alps, Visma-Lease a Bike clung on in hope that they could conquer Pogacar, but he was brutal in the mountains because Vingegaard’s only time advantage was two seconds on stage 19, when he was resigned to finishing as the “best of the rest.”