Round 12 Post Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to today's FIA Formula 2 Press Conference following the Sprint Race here at the Baku City Circuit. Joining us this morning in third place Alexander Dunne for Rodin Motorsport, in second place Laurens van Hoepen for TRIDENT and the winner of the Sprint Race this morning Dino Beganovic for DAMS Lucas Oil. Dino, congratulations, that's two wins in a row for you now. How happy are you with your performance today?

Dino Beganovic: Very happy obviously. It was a good race. I think we had very good pace today as well. We didn't get to show it all in qualifying yesterday, in both qualis but I think today's race was very good. I had a good start and got past Nikola and straight away we could build our gap and then just focus on our race. So super happy and especially coming back to Baku after last year it feels good to have another victory here.

FIA Formula 2: You mentioned the fact that you were able to break out the DRS window to those behind and especially Nikola at first. How crucial was that in your race and how confident you were to keep that up?

Beganovic: Obviously for many laps I was just monitoring the gap and making sure that there was no threat going into T1. But when I saw my chance to pull away, I tried to push quite hard and get the gap and once I had it, it was just a flat out race to the end. Obviously, the Safety Car in the end I was not a big fan of but it went well in the end, so I'm pretty happy.

FIA Formula 2: I was going to mention the final safety car in the restart with one lap to go. How nervous were you?

Beganovic: It was just about getting the restart right and then making your race again and getting in the rhythm, that's really it. But obviously I was not a big fan when it came out straight away and when I knew it was only one racing lap it just makes for chaos here in Baku. So in the end I'm happy with how it ended.

FIA Formula 2: We have two more races to go and the win today was DAMS’ fourth around Baku. Do you think we might see a fifth before the weekend ends?

Beganovic: I don't know, I hope so but we need to do a very good job to be able to do that. Obviously, the pace was very good this morning. Let's see what we can improve for the afternoon and then we will have to see but anything can happen here and obviously just gaining from where we're starting is already a good starting point.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations, good job today. Laurens it's P2 for you this morning. You lost out at the start but you were pretty faultless otherwise. Are you happy with the result?

Laurens van Hoepen: Yeah, I am. I think overall we did a good race. The pace wasn't too bad. Dino, I think was a bit quicker than us today or in this race. Let's hope not in the Feature Race this afternoon but overall I'm happy. Of course I would have wanted to be able to fight a bit more for the win especially starting from P2 and Dino having a good start from P3 but overall we kept it clean. We didn't make any real big mistakes so overall I'm happy.

FIA Formula 2: We saw two drivers make mistakes at Turn 16 and you were able to profit from Nikola’s error. With DRS being so powerful on a straight that is so long, how much pressure is there to nail that selection of track lap after lap?

Van Hoepen: It's so important because as long as you have a good run on the straight, you're safe but as soon as you make a tiny mistake there, you're so vulnerable into T1. So you just have to nail it every lap and that puts some pressure on. Also with T18 and T19 being not the easiest corners to do with such high speed, it's tricky but also gives a good aspect for the racing.

FIA Formula 2: You look to have strong pace all the way through that race. How much confidence does that give you for both Feature Races, the first of which is going to be this afternoon?

Van Hoepen: Honestly, I think we were good but we still have some work to do. I think Dino was a bit quicker than us overall so we'll try and work a bit and then hopefully in the Feature we have even better pace and are able to go a few places up to the front.

FIA Formula 2: Well good job today and best of luck for this afternoon. Alex thank you for waiting. It's another podium finish for you with third place from P10 on the starting grid. You made up seven places in that race and were attacking from the start. Lap 1 at Turn 3 looked to be one of your best overtakes this season. Talk us through it.

Alexander Dunne: It was a really good start. I think Noel and Martinius were fighting through Turn 1 and I managed to get both of them on the exit and then in Turn 3, it was a good move but it wasn't necessarily planned. I think my brakes were a bit cold so when I hit the brakes, I didn't slow down as much as I had anticipated and I ended up arriving to the apex a lot quicker than what I wanted but it worked out and I managed to just keep it out of the wall so it was okay. But it was a strong race. Pace-wise it looked pretty good. I managed to get to P3 quite early on. I picked everyone off quite quickly and got to P3 a lot earlier than what I would have expected if I thought we were going to move forward. But then once I was in P3 I kind of felt like I got stuck a little bit. Laurens and Dino were pretty quick. I think we were evenly matched at times but for the most part I felt like I was maybe missing a little bit of pace to them, so maybe there's something we can do to improve the pace later on in the race.

FIA Formula 2: You will be starting on pole this afternoon. You must be feeling pretty optimistic following today's race about your chances heading into the rest of the weekend.

Dunne: I'm excited. Obviously, pole is the best place to start and after today and after yesterday as well or after this morning sorry I think we're in a good place. The pace clearly is very strong. Martinius finished P4 in the Sprint as well so we both moved forward together. So it should be an exciting one. I definitely think there's a couple of things still that we can do to improve the race pace to get a little bit more out of it but for sure we're in a good direction.

FIA Formula 2: You picked up the bonus points for a fastest lap today so that means seven vital points in the title battle. Do you have an eye on that at all this weekend?

Dunne: I'm not looking at the championship lead specifically but after Madrid I felt like there was a chance of making something happen so I'm going to make sure that I leave nothing out there and if the two races go the way I think they can then we should be right in the fight.