First Formula 2 victory for Ferrari's Dino Beganovic in brilliant Baku Sprint Race

Credit: James Sutton

A first FIA Formula 2 victory achieved for Ferrari Driver Academy member Dino Beganovic, who shone in a dramatic but brilliant Formula 2 Sprint Race, at the Baku City Circuit, on Saturday.

After having a great chance to clinch a maiden victory in the Sprint Race at Monza, one round ago, Beganovic made no mistake after starting from the front row, in the Azerbaijani capital.

Beganovic secured victory in what was a chaotic and eventful Formula 2 Sprint Race at the Baku City Circuit. Two Safety Cars were required across 21 laps of racing, with both restarts controlled brilliantly by Beganovic.

The driver secured an amazing result for Hitech TGR, who celebrated their best results of the season and their entire time in FIA Formula 2.

A 1-2 finish was claimed after Williams Academy driver Luke Browning took second place. Both Hitech drivers have now taken their maiden Formula 2 wins and both doing so in consecutive Formula 2 races.

Beganovic claimed history for himself too as he became the first ever Swedish history in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Doing his Scandinavian nation proud in the top flight of feeder series open-wheel motorsport.

As for the race itself, chaos initiated from the moment the lights went out. A three-wide moment between Pepe Marti, debutant Martinius Stenshorne and Sprint Race pole sitter Rafael Villagomez, ended in disaster.

Stenshorne went down the inside, with Pepe Marti on his outside, but who was on the inside of Villagomez. Three into one did not go and Marti collided with Villagomez.

Both of Villagomez and Marti retired on the opening lap of the Sprint Race due to damage caused to their Formula 2 machines. However, they were not the only drivers to retire on the opening lap.

Oliver Goethe too retired from the Baku Sprint Race after he was tagged round at the second turn. Three retirements before the race had even really got going.

Stenshorne, a McLaren Development Driver, showed great skill and talent in the early stages of proceedings in the Sprint Race and was demonstrating why he has earned his seat at Trident and his place at McLaren.

A move on Prema Racing's Sebastian Montoya was the main highlight. The Norwegian moved up into second and looked to have pace that matched race leader Beganovic.

However, his debut was abruptly ended, as a mechanical issue brought a horrid end to such a promising opener to his Formula 2 career.

After pulling over on the approach to Turn 16, his retirement caused the second and final Safety Car.

Two post-race penalties were handed out following the conclusion of the Baku Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon.

Firstly, Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Amaury Cordeel. However, due to Maini failing to finish, this has been converted to a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's Feature Race.

The other post-race penalty was for the other debut driver at Trident, Laurens Van Hoepen. The Dutch driver was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Ritomo Miyata and Arvid Lindblad. This did not change the finishing position of 17th for Van Hoepen.

In the final order and behind the Hitech duo, who were first and second, McLaren Development Driver Alex Dunne was third and completed the podium.

The front row for Feature Race Sunday completed the top five with pole sitter Jak Crawford fourth and ahead of championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli, who was fifth.

Richard Verschoor stole sixth on the line from Prema's Gabriele Mini in a drag race to the line. Completing the points scoring, in the top eight, was the Williams Academy driver Victor Martins, of ART Grand Prix.
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Sunday morning's Feature Race will complete round 12 action at the Baku City Circuit, in Azerbaijan.

2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 12 - Baku Sprint Race Top 8

Graphic supplied by Feeder Review

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal