- Swede bags top six result in strong F2 sprint race
- “Still a lot of work to do” as pursuit continues for improved performance
Dino Beganovic returned to the points in the FIA Formula 2 Championship after a strong drive in Saturday’s sprint race at Silverstone, but left the British Grand Prix weekend still searching for answers after another largely challenging event.
One week on from a non-scoring outing in Austria, Beganovic managed to return to the points-paying positions in Formula 1’s main feeder series, recovering from another tricky qualifying session to move up five places from 11th to sixth in Saturday’s sprint race.
“The sprint race was the main positive this weekend,” says Dino Beganovic. “It felt like the beginning of the year, with some really strong pace that allowed me to move up the order with some nice moves along the way. Unfortunately it was only a sixth place in the end as we had to recover from another difficult qualifying showing, but it left us in high spirits going into the feature race on Sunday.”
Once there, however, the promise turned into disappointment as a combination of factors dropped Beganovic down the order. The Swede had to make one extra lap on rapidly degrading soft tyres while the DAMS Lucas Oil crew attended to his team-mate as the pit stop window opened on lap six, and Beganovic then found himself unable to make much progress later in the race en route to P12.
“It was a tough race today to wrap up a tough weekend,” Dino Beganovic concludes. “I had to do that extra lap on softs, which wasn’t ideal, and then I kind of got stuck in a DRS train.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we now have two weeks until the final double-header before the summer break. We will dive deep into all the numbers and try our best to improve the situation.”
The next FIA Formula 2 Championship round takes place at Spa-Francorchamps on July 17-19.
RESULTS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
Rd. 7 – Silverstone (GBR)
Race 1 (Sprint Race)
1: N. Tsolov (BUL), Campos Racing
2: G. Minì (ITA), MP Motorsport
3: R. Villagómez (MEX), Van Amersfoort Racing
—
6: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil
Race 2 (Feature Race)
1: N. Tsolov (BUL), Campos Racing
2: R. Villagómez (MEX), Van Amersfoort Racing
3: K. Maini (IND), ART Grand Prix
—
12: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
After 7/14 rounds
1: N. Tsolov (BUL), Campos Racing, 141 p.
2: G. Minì (ITA), MP Motorsport, 124 p.
3: R. Câmara (BRA), Invicta Racing, 94 p.
4: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport, 92 p.
5: N. Léon (MEX), Campos Racing, 69 p.
—
7: D. Beganovic (SWE), DAMS Lucas Oil, 57 p.
