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

Dino Beganovic was unstoppable in Saturday’s Sprint, earning his first victory in FIA Formula 2 from second on the grid. Teammate Luke Browning made it a Hitech TGR 1-2 in Baku, while Alexander Dunne finished third for Rodin Motorsport having started seventh.

AS IT HAPPENED

Beganovic was able to get the launch he needed to take the lead into Turn 1, but contact for polesitter Rafael Villagómez and Josep María Martí left the Mexican driver pointing the wrong way on corner exit, while the Campos Racing driver retired in the pitlane.

Further on, Oliver Goethe suffered a spin after tagging the wall at Turn 2, which brought out the Safety Car.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 4, and Beganovic waited as long as he could before getting things restarted, before retaining the lead ahead of Montoya.

Leonardo Fornaroli was able to put a move on compatriot Gabriele Minì at Turn 3 to take sixth place from the PREMA Racing driver.

With DRS enabled though, Minì slipstreamed his way back through for P6 at the start of Lap 7.

Stenshorne was on the attack up ahead, and with a brave dive to the inside of Montoya into Turn 3 seized second place in the TRIDENT.

Lap 8 and title rivals Fornaroli and Jak Crawford went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, the latter able to pass the Invicta Racing driver to take P7.

Stenshorne’s impressive race debut was over later in the lap, as he slowed and pulled over into retirement. With the TRIDENT stuck on track, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and later converted into a full Safety Car.

That was withdrawn at the end of Lap 12 and in the meantime, light rain had started to fall. Beganovic waited as long as he could once more and controlled the restart to retain the lead.

Alexander Dunne was looking for a move at Turn 3, diving down the inside of Browning to take third place from his Hitech rival.

Lap 15 and Dunne had a sizeable lock-up into Turn 1, allowing Browning to move back through for third, leaving the Rodin driver with a big flat spot on his front left.

The Irish driver fell out of DRS range to Browning ahead and Minì was able to take advantage, using DRS to clear Dunne into the first corner on Lap 16.

Leader Beganovic was comfortable out in front and over four seconds clear of Montoya, who had Browning to worry about, with the Williams Racing Development Driver in DRS range.

The Briton took second place at Turn 1 on Lap 18 to make it a Hitech 1-2 with four laps remaining. Dunne made another move into Turn 3 to take fourth back from Minì.

One lap later, Crawford was able to take fifth from the Italian as the PREMA driver began to struggle. Teammate Montoya’s race was run on Lap 19 as he slowed and dropped out of the points, handing third to Dunne.

Onto the final lap, Fornaroli was on the attack, passing Minì with a brave move around the outside of Turn 3 to take fifth, but the Championship leader made slight contact with the wall in the process.

Beganovic was well clear of the action behind him though, winning his first F2 race by over six seconds back to teammate Browning. Dunne completed the podium in third for Rodin.

Crawford took valuable points in fourth place, just 0.3s off the podium, while Fornaroli was able to hold onto fifth.

Richard Verschoor pipped Minì in a drag race to the line to earn sixth from P11 on the grid, leaving the PREMA driver seventh, as Victor Martins rounded out the points in P8.

KEY QUOTE – Dino Beganovic, Hitech TGR

“I feel very good after that! It was a bit of redemption after yesterday. We had a lot more pace than what we showed, and I think today we showed it very well, pulling away at the first restart and the second as well. We showed our pace with the fastest lap too. I’m super happy, everything was under control, and the team delivered a very good car. Super happy with the 1-2 as well with Luke there.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Fornaroli maintains the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 178 points, but Browning closes the gap in second, going onto 161 points. Verschoor is third on 147 ahead of Crawford in fourth on 142. Dunne rounds out the top five places on 130 points.

Invicta Racing lead the way in the Teams’ Standings with 259, but Hitech TGR are closing in, going onto 242 points in second. Campos Racing remain third on 213 points ahead of MP Motorsport in fourth on 170 points. DAMS Lucas Oil complete the top five, just two behind MP with 168 points.

UP NEXT

Sunday’s Feature Race is set to get underway at 11:00 local time with Jak Crawford on pole and Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli alongside him on the front row.