Dunne disqualified from second place in Austria

Alex Dunne drove a McLaren Formula 1 car before his Formula 2 commitments in Austria

Alex Dunne's Formula 2 title hopes took a blow in Austria after the Irish driver was disqualified from the feature race for a technical infringement.

After he started in seventh place, the 19-year-old had finished second to Richard Verschoor, who won the race and moved into the championship lead by six points.

However, the plank underneath Dunne's Rodin Motorsport car was deemed to be too worn, and he subsequently lost his second place.

As a result, the McLaren development driver remains in second in the championship but is now 24 points behind Verschoor.

The disqualification brings to a close a busy weekend for Dunne, who impressed on his Formula 1 debut by setting the fourth fastest time in opening practice for the Austrian Grand Prix.

In driving for McLaren in that session, Dunne became the first Irish driver to compete on a Formula 1 weekend in 22 years.

Dunne is back in action in Formula 2 at the British Grand Prix from 4-6 July.

Dunne's weekend started with his impressive Formula 1 debut, which he described as "definitely the best day of my life".

Just an hour after his Formula 1 commitments, the Offaly driver jumped back into his Rodin F2 car and set the seventh fastest time in qualifying.

A grid penalty for a rival promoted Dunne to third on the grid for Saturday's sprint race but a poor start saw him drop down to eighth and, to add insult to injury, he was handed a five-second penalty for a false start.

He had dropped to 10th but a last-lap crash took out four cars ahead, which promoted Dunne to sixth and allowed him to keep his championship lead by one point.

Dunne rebounded with better pace in the feature race on Sunday and carved his way through the order after an early pit stop.

However, he could not overhaul Verschoor, who is in his fifth season of F2, and the 24-year-old won and was set to take a six-point advantage into Silverstone.

But Dunne's charge through the order was unrewarded thanks to his disqualification for the technical infringement on the front plank underneath his car.

Regulations say the plank must have a minimum dimension of 4mm, but Dunne's car fell below that at 3.37mm and 3.27mm at two points.

Formula 2 standings

After round 7/14

1. Richard Verschoor (NED) 114

2. Alex Dunne (IRL) 90

3. Jack Crawford (USA) 88

4. Leonardo Fornaroli (ITA) 86

5. Luke Browning (GBR) 83

6. Arvid Lindblad (GBR) 79