Dino Beganovic showcased his street-fighting skills once again, securing his second pole position of the Formula 2 season in a qualifying session at the Madring that was interrupted by three red flags. The Swedish driver navigated the chaos to come out on top.
The session got off to a frantic start as Kush Maini, the first to set a lap time, spun and hit the wall at Turn 15, bringing out the first red flag. Prema’s Sebastian Montoya also found the barriers at the chicane but managed to limp back to the pits with suspension damage.
When running resumed, Alex Dunne of Rodin Motorsport laid down a marker with a 1m46.330s, with Beganovic slotting in 0.212s behind. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov then pipped Dunne by a mere 0.002s to go top, but the session was halted again when Nico Varrone crashed at Turn 19.
After the restart, Dunne unleashed a stunning lap of 1m45.416s, almost a second clear of Tsolov. His teammate Martinius Stenshorne briefly held third before being displaced by the Trident duo of Laurens Van Hoepen and John Bennett, though Van Hoepen remained 0.736s adrift.
With ten minutes remaining, the DAMS pair of Roman Bilinski and Beganovic found their rhythm. Bilinski went second with a 1m45.768s before Beganovic, a Ferrari junior, went fastest, beating Dunne’s time by 0.234s. The Swede then improved to a 1m44.331s, 0.838s clear of Dunne, although Bilinski was pushed back to fourth by MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Mini.
Bennett set a purple first sector but crashed spectacularly at Turn 11, ending his qualifying and causing a third red flag with five minutes left. When the green flag waved, AIX Racing’s Emerson Fittipaldi moved up to second. Dunne and Beganovic traded fastest times, but Beganovic emerged on top with a 1m44.331s, 0.230s ahead of Dunne. Dunne’s hopes of improving were dashed when Hitech’s Colton Herta hit the wall after setting a personal best in sector one.
In the dying moments, Rafael Camara of Invicta Racing leapt to third, 0.522s off the pace, while Tsolov had to settle for fifth behind Stenshorne. Joshua Duerksen, the double winner at Monza last week, could only manage 17th, the second-slowest of those who set a meaningful lap. Fittipaldi secured pole for Saturday’s reverse-grid sprint race with tenth place, where he will line up alongside Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata.
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