Dino Beganovic: “It’s a really good start of the season, I couldn’t have hoped for a better one”

Ferrari Driver Academy racer Dino Beganovic continued his superb start to the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season with a win and second place at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari last weekend.

Beganovic, racing for Prema Racing, finished second on the road at Imola in Saturday’s opening race, but he moved up to the race win once the ten-second time penalty for on-track victor Gabriele Minì was applied after the Italian had jumped the start.

The Swede had made the decisive move on ART Grand Prix’s Mari Boya early on to move into second, and he was content thereafter to hold position knowing the leader was carrying the time penalty.

“It’s a really good start of the season, I couldn’t have hoped for a better one,” said Beganovic. “Race 1 with the victory, and Race 2 with P2 brought really good results and we are coming away with the championship lead once again.

“In race 1 I had a great run starting from P3. I got around [Mari] Boya, and after that it was just managing as we got the message quite early that Minì had the time penalty. I’m really really happy with the victory, it’s a great start for the championship.

“It’s also particularly special because I took my first single-seater win on this track.”

Beganovic started third in Sunday’s second race and made an early move on Trident’s Tim Tramnitz around the outside of Tamburello to run second, but he did not have the pace to match polesitter Minì up front.

The Swede ended up settling for second amid the tricky track conditions caused by the mixed weather at Imola to extend his Drivers’ Championship lead to thirty-eight points over team-mate Paul Aron heading to the Monaco round at the end of May.

“Race 2 was really difficult because it started raining on the pre-grid, and there was a bit of confusion in terms of which tyres to use,” said Beganovic.  “I think everybody went for slicks.

“When it started raining, it became more complicated but I’m happy with how this tricky race ended.”