Dino Beganovic took his first Formula 2 win, dominantly defeating the challenge of Luke Browning and Alex Dunne in the Azerbaijan Sprint Race.
In a race marred with Safety Cars and collisions, Beganovic breezed to the front in the early stages, surviving two Safety Car restarts to take the chequered flag with a 6.2s gap to Browning behind.
Qualifying was rife with incidents, with three red flags throughout the session, as the tight streets and close walls of Baku are quick to punish even the slightest mistakes from drivers, requiring a balance of pushing with confidence and caution.
Rafael Villagomez lined up on the front row of the grid with Dino Beganovic, with Villagomez in pole position for the sprint.
On the second row were Sebastian Montoya and Martinius Stenshorne, the Trident lining up on the second row for his first-ever F2 race.
A chaotic start in Baku
Beganovic made a stunning start, taking the lead from Villagomez into Turn 1.
Further back, Stenshorne, Villagomex and Pepe Martí went three wide into Turn 1, the three colliding. Stenshorne made it through, but Villagomez and Marti were out of the race.
Montoya made a dive into second with Stenshorne settling into third, Luke Browning in fourth.
As the grid ran through the coming corners, Oliver Goethe and Arvid Lindblad made contact, taking both Red Bull Juniors out of the race.
A Safety Car was brought out due to the slew of cars stranded on the track. On Lap 4, the Safety Car was brought into the pit lane with Begnaovic heading the field.
The Swede has a strong restart, holding onto his lead by a good margin into the first corner. Kush Maini tapped the wall in the opening lap, the Alpine Junior spinning, but managed to get going again.
Beganovic out front managed to break the DRS to Montoya, holding a gap of 1.1s. Minì and Fornaroli went wheel-to-wheel for sixth place, the Invicta making it past his fellow Italian.
However, Minì wasn’t ready to give up the place, sticking with Fornaroli into Lap 6. The gap was just 0.3s.
Maini dove into the pit lane, changing his front wing after the contact made earlier in the race.
Minì made the move around the outside of Fornaroli, down into Turn 1. The Alpine Junior got past the Invicta and took back sixth place.
Stenshorne looked to take second place from Montoya on Lap 7. The Trident dove bravely down the inside of the PREMA driver, making the move stick and taking the second step on the podium.
Mini on the charge
Mini immediately set his sights on Alex Dune in fifth, the pink-liveried car making quick work of reducing the gap to just 0.4s.
On Lap 8, Minì was an impressive 0.5s faster than the McLaren Junior.
Stenshorne, who was running in second, slowed quickly, falling dramatically through the order. A disaster for the Trident, who was on pace for a podium finish in his maiden F2 race.
A Virtual Safety Car was brought out, with Stenshorne stopped at the side of the track. The VSC was upgraded to a Safety Car on Lap 11.
On Lap 12, the Safety Car was called into the pits as rain began to fall in the pit lane.
Beganovic led the field for a second Safety Car restart. He made another strong restart, holding the lead.
Jak Crawford made a dive on Gabriele Minì, but Minì was able to hold position as the two swapped and swapped back. Dunne made it past the Hitech of Luke Browning, onto the final step of the podium.
Beganovic broke the one-second gap to Montoya again, securing his place out front. On Lap 14, the DRS was enabled, and the field began to close up once again.
Montoya was noted for a safety car infringement as he built the gap to Dunne in third.
While in Minì closed in on the back of Browning when Dunne locked up ahead, falling back behind the Williams junior. Minì was then faced with getting ahead of the McLaren junior, the gap just 0.5s.
The Italian closed on the gearbox of Dunne, easily moving around the outside of the Rodin driver into the first corner.
The PREMA driver took fourth place, setting his sights back on Browning ahead. Beganovic had settled into a dominant lead with a 3.4s gap out front.
A dash to the finish line
On Lap 17, Browning broke the DRS to Montoya in second. The Williams driver dove down the inside into Turn 1.
Behind, Dunne made a move on Minì, making the pass back into fourth place. The Alpine junior settled back at 0.6s, as Crawford also made a pass on the Alpine Junior, taking fifth place.
Montoya dropped down the order, the PREMA suffering an issue that saw him out of the points playing positions.
Dunne in third managed to break the DRS, securing his third place on Lap 20 as Crawford then found himself challenged by the Alpine Junior.
Fornaroli dangerously dove down the inside of Minì, touching the wall in the process of getting past. Minì had to settle for sixth place, under pressure from Richard Verschoor, who took sixth as the duo crossed the line.
Beganovic crossed the line to take his maiden F2 win, with his teammate, Luke Browning, alongside him. Alex Dunne took the third step on the podium, an important result for the McLaren Junior.
Crawford took fourth, a strong result ahead of his pole position in the Feature Race. Behind came championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli and Verschoor, who took last-minute positions from Minì, who crossed the line seventh.
In the final points position, Victor Martins recovered to eighth, with Joshua Duerksen in ninth and Arvid Lindblad taking the final point.
READ MORE – Roman Stanek and Victor Martins penalised ahead of F2 Baku Sprint
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