Hitech TGR ‘over the moon’ says Hatton after Baku Sprint Race one-two

Dino Beganovic led home teammate Luke Browning across the line in a tremendous one-two finish for Hitech TGR at the Baku Sprint Race.

Starting in second, the Swede made a great start off the line to take the lead into Turn 1. From then on, he managed two Safety Car restarts perfectly before going on to win by 6.2 seconds.

Following Beganovic home was Browning, the Briton going from sixth to second, following a couple of late-race overtakes on Alexander Dunne and Sebastián Montoya.

SPRINT RACE: Beganovic dominates in Hitech TGR 1-2 around Baku

It sealed a strong performance for Hitech, and speaking afterwards, their delighted Team Manager Clive Hatton gave his view on events.

“The team is over the moon,” said Hatton. “Everyone is delighted, everyone has worked hard for this between the team and the drivers, and to get a one-two in the Sprint Race, you cannot really ask for more.”

On Beganovic and Browning’s performances, Hatton said: “Dino has not had the easiest time up until now. He works hard and does a lot of simulator, so he deserves it.

“Dino had the race under control and in hand from the start once he got ahead at Turn 1. He just controlled it from there between managing the gaps to his Safety Car restarts.

“He did those flawlessly, and he was able to pull a gap after each restart and got outside of DRS to the guys behind.”

“Luke did a great job as well. He avoided one or two collisions into Turn 1. It wasn’t easy, got overtaken a few times, but he did some overtakes as well, so he held on in there.”

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Beganovic and Browning as well as their rivals had to deal with not only the Safety Car restarts, but also with the threat of rain and a slippery track, as well as the gusts of wind affecting them at specific corners.

When asked about the communication from the Hitech pit wall to their drivers, Hatton said there were plenty of conversations before and during the race about the conditions.

“I think the drivers knew going into the race it was not going to be easy,” he explained. “Between the wind and the chance of rain it was going to continuously change. It was important to remind them throughout the race that they don’t get complacent.

“The conditions were a changing factor, so to watch out for that, and there were a few drops. Luke reported that the track and lines were starting to get slippery, but it dried up towards the end.”

With the result, Browning has closed the gap to Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli from 21 to 17 points, with there being more points up for grabs in the Feature Race.

In addition to that, Hitech are also 17 points behind Invicta Racing in the battle for the Teams’ title. However, Hatton says there is a lot more to work to overnight before heading into Sunday.

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“I am definitely pleased,” said Hatton on the Championship Standings. “But I always say let’s keep calm, let’s focus on the race tomorrow and see what way it plays out. Once it comes to the Feature Race, a lot more can happen, especially when pitstops are involved.

“Probably the most important thing here is to stay out of trouble but after that, the engineers will look into it this evening, see what the tyre deg was like to give us a better idea for tomorrow of the pitstop window.

“But also the wind might have settled down I think for tomorrow and we will see what the weather is like tomorrow.”