Beganovic thrilled with P5 in Yas Marina Qualifying and impressive F2 form

Dino Beganovic continued his impressive form from Lusail, qualifying fifth in his second Formula 2 race weekend with DAMS Lucas Oil.

The Swede was in fine form around the Yas Marina Circuit, making a late improvement while others struggled to extract time in their final runs to move into the top five.

Speaking after the session, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member couldn’t hide his delight at another positive result in a new Championship for him.

“It was another great result,” Beganovic said. “Honestly, I'm very, very happy to get P5 in my second Qualifying and again, with not many laps in the car, not many laps on the track. So extremely happy to fit in so well in what is a new Championship and a new car.

“Also, the step from FP to quali, I think we made the right choice, I can thank the team for that, and from the first run to second run in quali, we did a good job, so to only be one and a half tenths off pole is a very positive thing, and means we did a lot of things right.

“With a bit more experience in the car there's probably even more to find, but then also the lap was not the lap of my life even, so again, it it's a good feeling to be in the top five once again in F2 and continue to deliver like this is what I need for experience for the future.”

After coming to a halt in Free Practice last week in Qatar, Beganovic says he felt his experience was limited once again in Practice in Abu Dhabi, though this time it was more to do with track evolution.

With the session taking place on a new compound of tyre for him and with the track temperature higher than in Practice, he says it was a tricky thing to adapt to, but was happy with how he and the team went about their work.

“There were a few small things, but they all add up to be a big thing, but it was just fine-tuning the car, the balance and then also going from the Medium to the Supersoft, with higher track temp in Qualifying, as a rookie, it’s not the easiest thing to adapt to.

“You have your references from Free Practice with braking references and then you have much more grip when you put the Supersoft tyres on. So, it's about adapting and understanding what is going on with the car and tyres, but again, we were on top of that, and we understood it quite quickly.”

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Beganovic explained how he was able to find more time late on in the session while others couldn’t improve. The DAMS driver says that compromising earlier in the lap meant his Supersoft tyres were in better shape in the crucial final sector.

“The last sector here is very demanding on the tyres. If you’re on the limit from the very start of your lap, you might struggle in the last one because the corners have that characteristic that lead to overheating. So, you need to find a balance during the lap.

“You want to push as hard as you can and try to find the maximum time, but you always need to take care about that last sector, which maybe was a little bit of a weak point for us. In the end we did a pretty decent run and we made it stick, so it's about to balance.

“It's quite similar to Barcelona, trying to either prioritise sector one or sector two and then you suffer more in sector three or the other way around. So it's about balance in the end.”

Beganovic was in the points last weekend in Lusail and is once again hoping to secure a strong result to build up his experience for the future.

He believes that with a strong starting position and one race under his belt, he and DAMS are well placed to capitalise on their speed in Abu Dhabi.

“I think after last weekend in Qatar, where I was happy in general during the whole weekend. I feel like I did a pretty good job, and the team gave me good support all the weekend.

“This weekend, we're starting in the top five, which is great. It’s more experience for the race as well, which is very nice to have, you know, try to improve from what we achieved last week in the Sprint and try to understand even more for the Feature.”