Beganovic takes podium finish at Hungaroring
PREMA Racing posted a podium finish in the opening race of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Hungaroring. Starting from the top of the grid following a late penalty, Dino Beganovic stayed in the front battle for the whole race and was eventually back to the podium after challenging for victory. Beganovic gave it a shot, but eventually ended up in P3.
His two teammates were called to a recovery drive following an ill-fated qualifying session yesterday, but could not make it to the points zone. Gabriele Minì posted P14, while Arvid Lindblad made a stellar effort from the 21st spot to P15.
They will try to bounce back again in tomorrow's Race 2 as the tough Hungarian weekend of the series is nearing its conclusion.
#1 DINO BEGANOVIC
"It's been a bit of a rollercoaster, not knowing until this point that I would start on pole as well. Obviously, I'm not happy with starting on pole and finishing in P3. In the start, I didn't really have a good launch, and Nikita got me in T2. Then I tried to get the focus back and fight for the lead. I tried the move in T2, but just caught the kerb while I was going to the apex and lost the car. I don't regret trying. We need to try to recover as much as we can from this weekend after the difficult qualifying and it was a strong way to do it today."
#2 GABRIELE MINÌ
"I started from P13 and lost a place in the first corner as I had to back out in the middle of a sandwich, then the pace wasn't really there, we were struggling to get to the others after the last corner and it was not so easy to follow. It was a long race, all about trying to be careful on the tyres in the first laps. Even with that, it was really hard to follow and attack. We need to work hard tonight to try and see what we can do tomorrow."
#3 ARVID LINDBLAD
"A decent race today, obviously we started quite far back. The start wasn't the best but we had a decent pace and I was able to pick up a few cars in front. Not great to score no points, but I think we did a good job moving forward, and the pace was strong. We look ahead to tomorrow to see if we can improve even more. I'll see what I can do even better on the start and race-craft, but we did a good job maximising today."