Beganovic adds Monte Carlo win, extends championship lead

Dino Beganovic delivered a monumental run at Monte Carlo this weekend for PREMA Racing. The 18-year-old Swede took a scintillating win in race 2 of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine hours before the Monaco Grand Prix to extend his championship lead.

The job stared in qualifying, when he dominated his group session to take pole position. Starting from the outside in Race 1, he captured second place, before powering away in Race 2 and never looking back. The Ferrari Driver Academy member, who also managed safety-car restarts to perfection, never finished worse than P2 this season.

Monte Carlo debutant Sebastian Montoya delivered a solid run among the rookie field after securing P8 in qualifying. Starting from the eighth row twice, he finished Race 1 in P17 before improving to P14 for Race 2.

Paul Aron and Hamda Al Qubaisi had a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Due to the limitation of the racetrack, only 28 cars out of 37 were allowed to start. In addition, the last drivers in standings also had less running in practice. For the two races, the top-24 qualifiers locked out spots in both heats, while the remaining drivers were given one race each.

Aron made contact with the barriers in his first push lap in qualifying and the resulting damage put the Estonian out of contention without setting a representative lap time. He took part in Race 1, finishing in P19. Al Qubaisi also took part in Race 1. The Emirati racer, who was also at her very first experience on a track of this type, kept clean and improved her pace lap by lap.

 

“Unfortunately, a small contact with the barriers at the beginning of qualifying broke my front left suspension and that was basically the end of the weekend for me. I was only allowed to take part in one race and I did my best to recover, but on this track it was never going to be easy. There’s nothing else to do to regroup and try to rebound next weekend.”

Qualifying 1: P18 Gr.A

Starting Grid Race 1: P28

Starting Grid Race 2:  DNS

Fastest lap: 1’42″418

Race 1: P25

Race 2: DNS

“Overall it has been a super good weekend. I’m very proud and happy for all the team and for how our work came together. It’s fantastic and magical to win in such a place like Monaco. Not only we achieved a win and a second place, but we also took the pole position. I want to thank the team a lot because we have done an amazing job together. To keep this up will be difficult, but we will try.”

Qualifying 1: P1 Gr.B

Starting Grid Race 1: P2

Starting Grid Race 2: P1

Fastest lap: 1’29″459

Race 1: P2

Race 2: P1

“I’m pretty happy with the speed over the weekend, although I think we could have done a better job in qualifying on my side. The car was a bit difficult to manage, and I didn’t have the full confidence with the track to maximise. The red flag also messed up our sequence which made it difficult to improve in the last laps. The speed in the races was very good. I got a lot of confidence, every lap getting quicker and going closer to the walls, making a few passes, which is quite difficult around here. I think we showed that we are very quick, not the results we wanted, but we finished both races, stayed consistent, learn a lot. Most important, getting more comfortable with the car in a street circuit is very positive because when you get back to a normal track you get more room and I can be more precise in the thing I do. It was a great weekend for the team as well, so let’s keep pushing for Paul Ricard and get back on the podium.”

Qualifying 1: P8 Gr.B

Starting Grid Race 1: P16

Starting Grid Race 2: P15

Fastest lap: 1’30″271

Race 1: P17

Race 2: P14

“Unfortunately we didn’t get as many laps as the others in free practice, and being for the first time in Monaco I felt the need for more laps to gain some confidence. However, I cut down the gap a lot from free practice to qualifying and the race so I’m really happy about the improvement. I enjoyed the track a lot, it was such a privilege to race in such an amazing circuit and I can’t wait to come back here in the future.”

Qualifying 1: P17 Gr.A

Starting Grid Race 1: P25

Starting Grid Race 2: DNS

Fastest lap: 1’34″290

Race 1: P27

Race 2: DNS