DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic sailed to victory on the streets of Baku, securing back-to-back F2 Sprint Race wins at the venue. The Ferrari-backed driver leapt into second off the line before seizing the lead from Nikola Tsolov several laps later. Beganovic aced both the early and late-race safety car restarts to claim a second consecutive win, following his Madrid Feature Race win last time out.
Speaking in the post-Sprint press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, Beganovic reflected on his race, expressing satisfaction with the pace they showed while acknowledging that they still had more to extract after both Qualifying sessions yesterday.
“Yeah, very happy, obviously. It was a good race, I think we had a very good pace today as well.”, he said. “We didn’t get to show it all in qualifying yesterday, in both qualis, but I think today’s race was very good, had a good start and got past Nikola and straight away we could build our gap and then just focus on our race. So, super happy and especially coming back to Baku after last year, it’s good to have another victory here.”
Beganovic “very happy” with how the race unfolded
After passing Tsolov, the Swede built a gap at the front before the safety car bunched the field back together. Beganovic explained that he focused on managing the gap behind before taking the opportunity to extend it when possible. Although he was unhappy to see the late-race safety car neutralise his advantage, he ultimately walked away satisfied with how he had executed the race.
“Obviously for many laps, I was just monitoring the gap and making sure that there was no threat going into T1. But when I saw my chance to pull away, I tried to push quite hard and get the gap, and once I had it, it was kind of just a flat-out race and go to the end. Obviously the safety car in the end, I was not a big fan of, but it went well in the end, so I’m pretty happy.”
Reflecting on the late-race safety car, he said: “It was just about getting the restart right and then making your race again. Getting in the rhythm, and that’s really it.”
“But obviously not a big fan when it came out straight away, and when I knew it was only one racing lap, it’s just made for chaos here in Baku. So, in the end I’m very happy how it ended, so yeah, nothing more to say.”
A chance to claim another race win?
“I don’t know, I hope so, but we need to do a very good job to be able to do that.”, Beganovic said when asked about the chances of securing another race win with DAMS this weekend.
“Obviously the pace was very good today, this morning. Let’s see what we can improve for the afternoon and then we will have to see, but anything can happen here and just gaining from where we started is already a good starting point.”
Despite walking away with the win, Beganovic admitted he had not felt particularly confident this morning after feeling a little under the weather. Nonetheless, he focused on getting the job done and hopes to recover ahead of this afternoon’s longer Feature Race.
“Before the race was not very high because I was feeling extremely bad this morning when I woke up. And yeah, I skipped all my warm-up, meetings and everything because I was feeling extremely bad. So I didn’t have very high hopes.”
“But yeah, just locked in and did a good start. And after that, I did my own race. But yeah, obviously super happy how it went. A bit low on energy now, but yeah, we got to find something to give me some energy for this afternoon.”
Managing rear degradation will be crucial
Discussing rear degradation, the 22 year-old believed they managed it well and stabilised the tyre performance throughout the Sprint Race. Although the degradation worsened towards the end, he emphasised that managing it will be crucial in both Feature Races to maximise their opportunities and capitalise on their pace.
“Yeah, obviously it was a topic during the day, but we have had a lot worse on other tracks. And I think we were able to get in a quite a good rhythm and stabilise quite well. Obviously, in the last couple of laps, felt it a bit more.”
He added: “But I think in the Feature Race, especially in both Feature Races, it will all be about managing it very well and trying to gain positions in the end of the race. Because obviously, as we saw today, there will be people struggling out there. So you got to be the best one at that and take advantage of it.”
When asked by Pit Debrief how important it will be to balance risk versus reward with so many points up for grabs this weekend, Beganovic explained: “Yeah, a bit like both of them [van Hoepen and Dunne] said, every point in the whole year is important. It’s not more important now.”
“But obviously, we want to score as many as we can now, coming into the stretch of the season. We’re in a good, decent position for today’s race in the afternoon. So I think we can score good points from there.”
A chance to move further up the field
Starting eighth on the grid for the first of two Feature Races later, Beganovic will need to make progress through the field. Pit Debrief asked the Swede whether he expects to see variation in strategy across the field, to which he said: “It’s definitely possible to move forward. I don’t think we will be looking so much at the different strategy because obviously, it’s a very high risk of safety cars. I think I proved it last year. Also, Joshua [Dürksen] proved it last year. You can start from the back of the grid and still have a good race if the pace is good.”a
“So we just got to see what we could have been better on this morning for the afternoon. And then I think we can obviously get some points this afternoon.”
Adding a second win to his 2026 tally, Beganovic now sits just three points behind Noel León in fifth in the Drivers’ Standings. If the Ferrari-backed driver can deliver another strong race, he could move further up the standings by the end of the day.
