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Mini holds off Beganovic for second FREC victory

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: Sebastiaan Rozendaal / Dutch Photo Agency

Gabriele Mini holds off Dino Beganovic to take his second win in the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship.

The race ended with a sprint to the flag after a late safety car was brought out by a crash further down the field.

Beganovic kept the pressure on poleman Mini but wasn’t able to make a move, and the championship leader finished 0.287 seconds behind.

The stop-start second race of the weekend at Paul Ricard began with an opening lap safety car interruption following a multi-car collision that took out Victor Bernier, Maceo Capietto and Owen Tangavelou.

By this point, Beganovic had already taken second from Gabriel Bortoleto and was close behind Mini.

Mini got the better restart, but Beganovic soon recovered. The two led a train of drivers where anybody who attempted a move came under pressure from those behind. Beganovic briefly got alongside Mini, only to fall back and come under attack from Kas Haverkort who couldn’t make the move stick and was then challenged by Bortoleto.

The string of battles at the front of the order was paused when Pietro delli Guanti, Joshua Dufek and Esteban Masson tried to go three-wide at the chicane. The trio made contact with one another and two cars were left stranded on track.

It was a lengthy safety car period, but the track was green for a short dash to the flag, which Mini ultimately won.

Haverkort took third ahead of Paul Aron and Hadrien David, who made up two positions in the final two laps.

Bortoleto dropped back to sixth, finishing just ahead of the battling Mikhael Belov, Mari Boya and Lorenzo Fluxa.

At the tail end of the top 10, Roman Bilinski held off Tim Tramnitz and Sebastian Montoya in a tight battle for the rookie classification win.

Race result
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Gabriele Mini ART Grand Prix 14 laps
2 Dino Beganovic Prema +0.287s
3 Kas Haverkort Van Amersfoort Racing +0.950s
4 Paul Aron Prema +1.591s
5 Hadrien David R-ace GP +2.457s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto R-ace GP +2.885s
7 Michael Belov MP Motorsport +3.486s
8 Mari Boya ART Grand Prix +3.850s
9 Lorenzo Fluxa R-ace GP +4.286s
10 Roman Bilinski Trident +5.190s
11 Tim Tramnitz Trident +5.602s
12 Sebastian Montoya Prema +6.258s
13 Joshua Duerksen Arden +7.099s
14 Laurens van Hoepen ART Grand Prix +7.321s
15 Pietro Delli Guanti R-P-M +8.049s
16 Eduardo Barrichello Arden +8.754s
17 Santiago Ramos KIC Motorsport +9.270s
18 Francesco Braschi KIC Motorsport +9.976s
19 Keith Donegan R-P-M +11.667s
20 Sami Meguetounif MP Motorsport +11.986s
21 Noel Leon Arden +12.218s
22 Pietro Armanni Monolite Racing +12.919s
23 Matias Zagazeta G4 Racing +13.422s
24 Leonardo Fornaroli Trident +13.674s
25 Axel Gnos G4 Racing +14.118s
26 Joshua Dufek Van Amersfoort Racing +14.300s
27 Hamda Al Qubaisi Prema +14.781s
28 Piotr Wisnicki KIC Motorsport +15.211s
29 Nicolas Baptiste FA Racing by MP +15.506s
30 Cenyu Han Monolite Racing +1 lap
Ret Esteban Masson FA Racing by MP
Ret Owen Tangavelou G4 Racing
Ret Victor Bernier FA Racing by MP
Ret Maceo Capietto Monolite Racing
Ret Levente Revesz Van Amersfoort Racing
Fastest lap: Aron, 2m00.002s

Championship standings
1
Beganovic 165   2 Mini 102   3 David 92   4 Aron 85   5 Belov 77   6 Haverkort 76   7 Bortoleto 69   Boya 54   9 Montoya 20   10 Fluxa 21