Dino Beganovic took victory in the Sprint Race at the 2026 F2 Baku round at the Azerbaijan GP, view the full race report here.
Round 12 kicked off with Kush Maini topping the timesheets in Free Practice as Formula 2 began its supersized weekend at the Baku City Circuit. Two back-to-back qualifying sessions proved more intense, with Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and Maritnius Stenshorne claiming pole positions and securing a double front-row lockout for both Feature Races. Further back, a difficult session left championship leader Nikola Tsolov in P10, giving him reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s first race.
As focus turned to the Sprint Race, Tsolov lined up on pole, starting alongside Laurens van Hoepen in P2 and Dino Beganovic in P3. PREMA Racing’s Sebastián Montoya began from P4, as his teammate Mari Boya completed the top five.
Lights out for the Sprint Race at the 2026 F2 Baku round!
After a delayed start, the 2026 F2 Baku Sprint Race got underway at 8:27 local time. Tsolov led the field through Turn 1 as Beganovic passed Van Hoepen to take P2. Drama unfolded early as Rafael Câmara spun Boya around after locking up at Turn 2. The incident triggered the first Safety Car of the race as Boya retired and Câmara received a 10-second time penalty.
The race resumed on Lap 3 with Tsolov managing another strong start. Dunne continued his charge through the field, moving up to P5 despite starting from P10. A brief yellow flag appeared on Lap 5 as Rafael Villagómez tumbled down to P21 after running off track.
Beganovic became the new race leader on the following lap as he charged past Tsolov on the long main straight.
Pushing the limits
Making his FIA Formula 2 debut, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi dropped to the back of the field after having a moment at Turn 1. Meanwhile, Beganovic led the field comfortably, running 0.7s clear of Tsolov with 12 laps left.
Câmara ran wide at Turn 16, allowing Dunne to come through for fourth. Tsolov made the same costly mistake on Lap 11, losing P2 to Van Hoepen. The Campos Racing driver’s race continued to unravel as Tsolov reported that he was struggling with his rear tyres. Dunne soon overtook the Bulgarian, with championship rival Câmara following him through and demoting Tsolov to P5.
By Lap 14, Beganovic held a 1.3s lead over Van Hoepen, as Dunne, Câmara, Tsolov, Montoya, Stenshorne, Maini, and Roman Bilinski completed the top ten.
Late chaos
Heading into the final laps, Beganovic extended his lead to 2.4s as Câmara closed in on Dunne. However, his progress was undone when teammate Joshua Dürksen found the wall at Turn 1. Invicta Racing opted to pit Câmara under the Safety Car, serving his penalty and switching to supersofts. Câmara rejoined in P18, holding the fastest lap.
The Safety Car ended on Lap 21, setting up a final-lap shootout. Beganovic took the field back to speed on the main straight as more drama struck further down the field with a multi-car pile-up at Turn 1. Ritomo Miyata and Noel León retired on the sport.
However, despite the chaos, Beganovic crossed the chequered flag first, taking back-to-back victories after also finding success during the 2026 F2 Madrid Feature Race. Laurens van Hoepen and Alex Dunne completed the Sprint Race podium at the 2026 F2 Baku round.
