Dino Beganovic secured a crucial victory to start the Formula 2 Azerbaijan weekend, securing back-to-back victories in the series.
The Swedish driver secured the race lead early, not letting his rivals get a chance to challenge for the top spot as he quickly built a comfortable advantage at the front, with Laurens Can Hoepen and Alex Dunne rounding up the podium.
Championship leader Nikola Tsolov started from reverse grid pole position, with TRIDENT’s Van Hoepen alongside him. Marking his best start of the weekend, Tsolov was eager to make up for a disappointing weekend at the Madring.
Behind them was last year’s Sprint race winner Beganovic, aiming for back-to-back victories.
Further back in the field, Championship contenders Rafael Camara and Gabriele Mini found themselves in 6th and 14th, respectively.
Lights out
As the lights went out, Tsolov had a great start, immediately defending his pole position into the first turn. However, it wasn’t an ideal start for Van Hoepen, who struggled off the line and dropped down to third, with Beganovic stealing a place.
Early drama unfolded as Invicta’s Camara locked up and made contact with Mari Boya ahead of him. The Brazilian continued racing; however, he was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and taking out another driver.
Boya took no further part in the Sprint, focusing his attention on the first of two features later this afternoon.
The Safety Car peeled into the pits at the end of Lap 3, as Tsolov once more led the field away. The Bulgarian continued his stint at the front of the field, as further behind Camara, made his way past Sebastian Montoya for fourth place.
Beganovic takes the race lead on Lap 6, sailing past his Red Bull junior rival on the pit straight. By the end of the lap, Beganovic was unable to break the DRS; however, his experience in leading a sprint race around the streets of Baku helped extend his lead.
On Lap 9, Camara, who was challenging Van Hoepen for third, dropped down to fifth after making a mistake, allowing Dunne to secure fourth place. Meanwhile, further back in the field, Mini found himself only a position up from his starting grid slot. However, with strong pace, the Italian looked likely to break into the top 10.
Mid race struggles for Tsolov
Van Hoepen moved past Tsolov on Lap 10 after the Bulgarian made a mistake, dropping him to third. Tsolov suffered a snap of oversteer through Turn 16, allowing the Dutch driver to sail past on the run down to the main straight. But Tsolov’s woes didn’t end there as Dunne immediately applied pressure to his rival, closing in fast on an overtake.
On Lap 13, Dunne moved past Tsolov to secure the final place on the podium. Tsolov then complained of having “no rear tyres” as his championship rival Camara also swept past. However, the move carried little significance, with the Brazilian set to serve a 10-second penalty at the end of the race.
Further back in the pack, Mini’s charge through the field continued, as the Italian was locked in an intense battle for ninth with Roman Bilinski.
Tsolov’s difficult Sprint race continued as Martinius Stenshorne sailed past the championship leader, dropping him to sixth. With the field bunching up at the rear of the points-paying positions,
Tsolov looked increasingly likely to fall completely out of the points despite having started from pole position.
Late Safety Car
On Lap 18, the Invicta of Joshua Duerksen found itself in the wall of Turn 1, bringing out a late Safety Car and erasing the gap his teammate Camara had built for his penalty.
The Safety Car peeled into the pits with just one lap remaining, setting up a one-lap shootout to the finish in Baku. Beganovic led the field away, but chaos quickly unfolded at Turn 1 as several cars became involved in a multi-car pile-up.
Ollie Goethe made contact with his teammate, although both drivers were able to continue. Ritomo Miyata and Noel León also made contact, with Câmara caught up in the aftermath.
While the Brazilian avoided hitting another car, the incident left his charge towards the top 10 looking like a distant dream. Fittipaldi was another casualty of the chaos, finding himself in the wall as the final lap unfolded.
At the front, Beganovic held his nerve to secure yet another race victory in Baku, fending off late challenges from Van Hoepen and Dunne to take the chequered flag. Further back, despite his earlier struggles, Tsolov recovered strongly to finish fifth.
READ MORE: Formula 2 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Sprint Race Results
Discussion about this post