Photo: Hitech GP
Hitech GP driver Dino Beganovic has labelled his run to ninth place in Formula 2’s Losail feature race as one of his best ever drives.
Beganovic had been 11th fastest in qualifying, 0.711 seconds off pole but 0.508s ahead of his then-title contending team-mate Luke Browning, so opted to start the race on Pirelli’s hard compound tyres while those ahead began on softs.
After the top 10 pitted across laps six and seven, Beganovic was promoted to the front of the field. He was 5.4s clear of the next driver on the same strategy by lap 10, and held a 10.6s lead when the safety car was summoned on lap 15.
While others chose to pit, committing to running half of the race on the quicker degrading soft tyres, Beganovic opted to stay out such was his pace advantage.
Following the restart pulled away again, creating a 5.6s gap before pitting on lap 27. That only left him with five laps to maximise the grippier compound he was now on, but he returned to track in 12th and after Browning had pitted from the lead Beganovic moved up to ninth. He found it far harder to utilise his pace in traffic, and made up no further places.
“It was a great race on Sunday – I think we did everything right. Looking back now, maybe we should have stopped when we got the early safety car period, seeing how this played out elsewhere, but I think we can be proud of our pace and our race in general,” Beganovic reflected. “We had fantastic speed, and I think this was one of my best races I’ve ever done.”
The fastest lap went to Beganovic by 0.263s, with Browning his closest rival on single-lap pace. On the final lap, Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne became the third fastest driver in the field but was 1.301s off Beganovic’s benchmark.
“The consistency was great, and the pace all the way to the end was fantastic,” the 21-year-old Swede added.
“Without that safety car, we could have been fighting for the win – so very annoying – but at the same time I’m very proud. We came back from a disappointing Friday, where we didn’t extract everything and didn’t have it all set, but I have a really good feeling going into Abu Dhabi for the last round.”
A sprint race win in Baku, two feature race podiums and pole at Imola have been the standout results of Beganovic’s rookie F2 season and he sits eighth in the standings ahead of this weekend’s finale.
He made his F2 debut with DAMS last year, contesting the last two rounds and making the podium. Next season he will return to DAMS’ line-up.