- Swede spins out of Sprint Race top five in Melbourne season-opener
- Feature Race cancelled amid heavy rain
Dino Beganovic will be looking to build on lessons learned in the opening round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Melbourne this weekend, with a pair of top five grid slots eventually going unrewarded at Albert Park.
The new season got underway in Australia with limited mileage in Friday’s sole practice session, with three red-flag stoppages affecting running and taking teams and drivers largely blindfolded into the first qualifying showdown of the year.
After experiencing some mechanical issues in qualifying due to an electrical problem experienced by a number of cars, Beganovic eventually managed to string together a decent lap in the closing stages, sealing a pair of top five grid slots for the weekend’s two races in a positive start to his rookie Formula 2 campaign.
Lining up fourth for the season-opening Sprint Race on Saturday, the Swede initially slipped down to sixth after a poor start, but quickly settled in and soon reclaimed fifth with a bold move around the outside at Albert Park’s Turn 11 right-hander.
Halfway through the race, however, Beganovic suffered a spin at the ultra-fast Turn 9, pirouetting his silver Hitech machine and tumbling down the order to 17th. He ultimately battled back to finish 14th.
“I just made a mistake and got wide into the corner, and unfortunately it cost us a strong result,” says Dino Beganovic. “It’s disappointing of course, but it’s the kind of thing that can happen, especially at a street track like this and in the first race of the season. We had good pace and were running with the leaders until that point, so that’s encouraging. I will learn from it and move on.”
Heading into Sunday’s Feature Race – the main event of the weekend where the majority of points are handed out – Beganovic was set to start from fifth on the grid. However, the overnight arrival of heavy rain ultimately caused the race to be cancelled.
“It has been a tricky weekend with still a lot of unknowns,” Dino Beganovic concludes. “We had the cancellation today, practice was very limited running, and then qualifying was OK but not ideal. We still have some potential to unlock, so it’s good to have the test in Bahrain coming up. It was quite a tough start to the season, but at least now we’re underway and we’re in the mix, top five on the grid for both races. It’s a solid platform to build on for the rest of the season.”
The FIA Formula 2 Championship resumes for round two at the Bahrain International Circuit on April 11-13. Before then, an in-season test will take place at the same venue on March 26-28.
RESULTS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
Rd. 1 – Melbourne (AUS)
Race 1 (Sprint Race)
1: J. Dürksen (PRY), AIX Racing
2: L. Fornaroli (ITA), Invicta Racing
3: L. Browning (GBR), Hitech
—
14: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech
Race 2 (Feature Race)
Cancelled due to rain
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
FIA Formula 2 Championship
After 1/14 rounds
1: J. Dürksen (PRY), AIX Racing, 10 p.
2: L. Fornaroli (ITA), Invicta Racing, 8 p.
3: L. Browning (GBR), Hitech, 6 p.
4: R. Verschoor (NED), MP Motorsport, 5 p.
5: R. Stanek (CZE), Invicta Racing, 4 p.
—
15: D. Beganovic (SWE), Hitech, 0 p.
