- Swede leads Hitech 1-2 for breakthrough win
- Podium double underpins highly competitive weekend in Baku
Dino Beganovic delivered a commanding performance on the streets of Baku to score a double podium and breakthrough first victory on his best weekend yet in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Lining up on the front row in Saturday’s Sprint Race, Beganovic rocketed off the line to snatch a lead he would never surrender, overcoming two safety car restarts and a brief spell of rain to clinch his maiden F2 victory in emphatic fashion – setting the fastest lap to boot.
Winning by over six seconds from team-mate Luke Browning, Beganovic spearheaded the first 1-2 for Hitech in Formula 2 since 2020, marking a perfect race for the British team.
The Azerbaijan triumph makes Beganovic the first Swedish driver to win in FIA Formula 2 in the championship’s modern era.
“I’m absolutely elated to be able to call myself a Formula 2 race winner,” says Dino Beganovic. “It means a lot and it’s an important moment in my career. It was a tricky race, having to manage two restarts and some rain towards the end that made all the white lines quite slippery. We had tremendous pace, however, and I was able to create a gap every time and set the fastest lap too. Getting a 1-2 for the team just adds to the emotion.”
Heading into Sunday’s Feature Race, Beganovic found himself down in ninth on the grid, the consequence of a chaotic qualifying session on Friday. Beganovic had appeared in the chase for pole in the early running, going quickest of all through the second sector, but aborted the lap in question to squeeze in time for two runs on his second set of tyres.
That decision ultimately proved wrong, as a slate of late red flags on the treacherous street track thwarted any late improvements, leaving Beganovic – who’d previously gone third fastest in practice – a frustrated ninth.
Another strong performance saw the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member rise all the way up to third in the Feature Race, however, capping off a brilliant weekend with the first podium clean-sweep of his Formula 2 career.
“It’s been a really good weekend, and I couldn’t have asked for much more on my first time racing here on the streets of Baku,” Dino Beganovic concludes. “It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience and once again we were right up there on pace in the Feature Race today. It feels like we’ve turned a critical corner and are finally able to show our true potential.
“A super weekend and a great way to move into the up-coming break.”
Following the weekend in Azerbaijan, Beganovic now moves up to eighth in the FIA Formula 2 Championship standings.
The F1 feeder series now enters a two-month break, with racing set to resume in the Middle East in late November/early December for two final weekends of action. The penultimate round of the season takes place in Qatar – the site of Dino Beganovic’s Formula 2 debut last year – on 28-30 November.
RESULTS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
Rd. 12 – Baku (AZE)
Race 1 (Sprint Race)
1: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech
2: L. Browning (GBR), Hitech
3: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport
Race 2 (Feature Race)
1: J. Crawford (USA), DAMS Lucas Oil
2: J. Dürksen (PRY), AIX Racing
3: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
After 12/14 rounds
1: L. Fornaroli (ITA), Invicta Racing, 188 p.
2: J. Crawford (USA), DAMS Lucas Oil, 169 p.
3: L. Browning (GBR), Hitech, 161 p.
4: R. Verschoor (NED), MP Motorsport, 149 p.
5: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport, 130 p.
—
8: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech, 96 p.
