F.Regional: encouraging start for Dino Beganovic

On his debut in the European Formula Regional Championship, the Swede showed his potential and was one of the top rookies. He scored his first points, finishing eighth in Race 1.

The European Formula Regional Championship got underway at Imola’s Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit against the prestigious backdrop of the F1 Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia-Romagna, with a field of no fewer than 30 drivers. Dino Beganovic finished eighth in his first race, but in the second one, any chance of more points evaporated because of a collision with another driver while fighting for fourth place.

Qualifying and Race-1. Beganovic got himself noticed with a sixth and seventh place in the two qualifying sessions, which made him the quickest rookie. He got off the line well in the first race, but in the scrapping in the opening lap he went off track at the Tamburello chicane. Dino lifted off just for a second, managing the situation to rejoin in ninth place. After spending a couple of laps getting the dirt off his tyres, his lap times came down progressively and in the closing stages he passed Gabriel Bortoleto and finished the race, which had featured three Safety Car periods, in eighth place.

Race-2. Expectations were high, following the good pace shown in Race-1 and Beganovic duly made an excellent start that saw him move up from seventh to fourth, maintaining a strong pace which allowed him to close on the lead trio. The second race also required the Safety Car in the early stages, which closed up the field. At the restart, Dino held position, but on lap 8 he had to fend off an attack from Alex Quinn at Tosa. The two cars were side by side heading for Piratella and collided going into the corner. Beganovic had to pit to change the front wing and rejoined 26th, before finishing 20th.

Next stop Barcelona. After Imola, the FIA Formula Regional championship will be back on track in three weeks time at the Barcelona circuit, as a support event to the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.