- Swede on the rostrum for second consecutive weekend
- Scores in both races in Budapest
Dino Beganovic backed up his podium at Spa-Francorchamps with another visit to the Formula 2 rostrum as the championship completed its final round before the summer break in Budapest.
Just one week after finishing third in the F2 sprint race in Belgium, Beganovic went one better in Hungary to come home second in the opening contest of the weekend at Hungaroring.
A botched start from third on the grid initially left the DAMS Lucas Oil driver on the back foot as racing got underway, but he immediately recovered some of the lost ground in Turn 1 to sit fourth as the race settled in.
Biding his time in a race of tyre management, the Swede was targeting an attack in the closing stages when he picked up two places for free as championship leader Nikola Tsolov collided with Sebastian Montoya.
That netted Beganovic his second podium in one week, and his fourth of the season.
“I’m pleased to get another podium here in Budapest,” says Dino Beganovic. “It wasn’t the easiest race. The start wasn’t ideal and I lost quite a few positions off the line, but thankfully I managed to recover some of it in Turn 1. After that, there was a lot of tyre management going on and I was trying to be patient going into the final ten laps.
“It was nice to have a little bit of luck in the end – we haven’t had too much of that this year – and get onto the podium to continue on our recent upward trajectory.”
In Sunday’s feature race that concluded the weekend, Beganovic lined up seventh, deploying the optional strategy of starting on the harder compound Pirelli tyres before switching to softs.
On a day when both strategies proved largely equal, Beganovic ultimately finished sixth.
“We made some changes overnight for the feature race, chasing a better balance, but I think we overdid it slightly and instead it went the other way,” says Dino Beganovic. “As the race developed, it was hard to make moves and overtake, so we would have needed to start further up the grid. Unfortunately I had some traffic in qualifying that cost me at least a certain top five, but in terms of performance, we generally had good pace this weekend.”
With a double points score, Beganovic can look back at a positive weekend which also saw him top the times in Friday’s free practice session.
”It has been an encouraging couple of weekends with a pair of podiums, which really makes life a lot easier for all of us going into the break,” Dino Beganovic concludes. ”Not that we can relax, because we’re still not where we want to be, which is to be winning races. It does give us confidence that we’re on the right track, however, which is very important for the direction we are setting out for the final part of the season.”
With nine of 14 championship rounds now completed, Beganovic remains seventh in the drivers’ standings.
Following an intense few months of racing, the Formula 2 field will now enjoy a well-earned six-week summer break before racing resumes at Monza (Italy) on September 4-6.
RESULTS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
Rd. 9 – Budapest (HUN)
Race 1 (Sprint Race)
1: G. Minì (ITA), MP Motorsport
2: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil
3: L. van Hoepen (NED), Trident
Race 2 (Feature Race)
1: N. Léon (MEX), Campos Racing
2: K. Maini (IND), ART Grand Prix
3: R. Câmara (BRA), Invicta Racing
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6: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
After 9/14 rounds
1: N. Tsolov (BUL), Campos Racing, 167 p.
2: G. Minì (ITA), MP Motorsport, 147 p.
3: R. Câmara (BRA), Invicta Racing, 145 p.
4: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport, 108 p.
5: N. Léon (MEX), Campos Racing, 94 p.
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7: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil, 79 p.
