At Paul Ricard, the 17 year old Swede crossed the finish line second in both the weekend’s races, although the result of the last race is under appeal.
Dino Beganovic took pole position and an excellent second place in Race 2 at Paul Ricard. He followed that up with a repeat performance in the second race, but in post-race scrutineering the scrutineers deemed that the tightening torque of a hub flange on his car was lower than that recorded on the car’s technical manual and the FDA student was excluded from the result. His Prema team has lodged an appeal against this decision. “I’m happy to have extended my run of podium finishes,” commented Dino, “especially as we haven’t always gone well at Paul Ricard in the past. I’d have liked to win at least one of the two races, but there’s a long way to go and the most important thing is to be quick at all the tracks on the calendar and so far we are doing a good job of that.” At the end of the fourth round, Beganovic leads the championship on 147 points, 45 ahead of second placed Gabriele Mini. If his second place in race 2 is restored, then Dino’s points total will be 165.
Race-1. Beganovic made the most of starting from pole, leading into the first corner. The Safety Car came out for three laps and Dino managed the restart well to keep ahead of team-mate Paul Aron. At half distance the two leaders enjoyed a good clean scrap which saw the lead change hands before the duel resumed in the closing stages, with Aron making the decisive move around the outside at the Mistral chicane. Beganovic responded but he overdid it, going into the run-off area, after which he chose not to take any more risks and settle for second.
Race-2. Dino got away well from third on the grid to move up to second on the opening lap. Once the Safety Car had come out and gone back in, Dino and race leader Gabriele Muni enjoyed a good duel which was interrupted by yet another Safety Car which lasted until there were just two laps remaining. Dino chose not to risk a valuable second place finish which saw him extend his series lead still further. Now, we await the outcome of the Prema appeal.
Zandvoort. After the back-to-back events in Monaco and Paul Ricard, there’s a two week break before the action resumes in the Netherlands at the Zandvoort circuit on 19 June.