- Swede leads majority of Lusail Feature Race
- Potential race win swept away by untimely safety car
Dino Beganovic delivered a message of intent in the penultimate round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Qatar, setting a storming pace at Lusail International Circuit.
Having sealed his maiden F2 victory at the previous round in Baku, Beganovic was hoping to pick up on a similar note as racing finally resumed in Qatar following a ten-week break.
The initial signs were encouraging, too, as the Swedish driver went second fastest in Friday’s free practice session on the outskirts of Doha.
A spin early on in qualifying proved costly, however, inflicting damage to the floor of Beganovic’s Hitech car and losing him crucial grip through Lusail’s high-speed corners.
Still on for a last-gasp improvement – having just set a personal best first sector – Beganovic’s fate was ultimately sealed when he ran into traffic and had to abort his final flying lap. Frustratingly, it left him 11th, outside the crucial top ten reverse-grid shuffle for Saturday’s Sprint Race by a fractional 0.03 of a second.
The opening race then proved largely uneventful, with Beganovic crossing the line in P9.
“Qualifying wasn’t great and it was a shame to miss out on a better grid slot,” says Dino Beganovic. “Especially here with overtaking being so difficult, track position means a lot. There was simply nothing I could do in the Sprint Race but follow the cars ahead – but we learned some interesting lessons for the rest of the weekend.”
Those lessons were used to good effect in the Feature Race on Sunday, as the compulsory use of two sets of tyres spiced up the action. Beganovic deployed an alternative strategy to run long on the opening stint on hard Pirellis, circling him into the lead once his soft-shod rivals had pitted by lap seven.
Once in clear air, the Swede then set a blistering pace out front.
Reeling off a series of fastest laps, Beganovic rapidly extended his advantage and built a cushion to the rest of the field that likely would have seen him retain his lead after his mandatory pit stop.
In a cruel twist of fate, however, an untimely safety car intervention ultimately derailed the Swede’s impressive charge, wiping out Beganovic’s lead in the crucial middle phase of the race. Tumbling down the order after pitting, he eventually came home in ninth having led a race-high 20 laps out of 32.
Underscoring his pace in the desert, Beganovic duly netted the bonus point for fastest lap – for the fifth time in the last nine races – having lapped more than a second clear of the drivers ahead.
“That was probably my best drive of the season, and the car was absolutely on rails today,” says Dino Beganovic. “We were flying on the hards and I felt I could easily have taken them all the way to the end. Ultimately we had to pit and then again on the softs, we were the fastest on track.
“It’s very unfortunate for it to end like that with the unlucky timing of the safety car, but we take the positives of some incredible pace today and try again next weekend.”
The 2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship concludes at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in a week’s time (December 5-7).
RESULTS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
Rd. 13 – Lusail (QAT)
Race 1 (Sprint Race)
1: R. Verschoor (NED), MP Motorsport
2: J. Dürksen (PRY), AIX Racing
3: R. Villagómez (MEX), Van Amersfoort Racing
—
9: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech
Race 2 (Feature Race)
1: V. Martins (FRA), ART Grand Prix
2: L. Fornaroli (ITA), Invicta Racing
3: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport
—
9: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
After 13/14 rounds
1: L. Fornaroli (ITA), Invicta Racing, 211 p.
2: J. Crawford (USA), DAMS Lucas Oil, 170 p.
3: R. Verschoor (NED), MP Motorsport, 170 p.
4: L. Browning (GBR), Hitech, 162 p.
5: A. Dunne (IRE), Rodin Motorsport, 149 p.
—
8: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech, 99 p.
