Beganovic lost for words after qualifying fourth on Formula 2 debut in Lusail

DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic was left “speechless” after leaving it late to qualifying fourth on debut in Formula 2 this weekend in Qatar.
The newcomer’s day got off to a difficult start when he suffered an issue early in Free Practice that meant he went into the Pole Position shootout without having done a push lap.
But the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member was showing good pace early on and was consistently in and around the top 10 on his first three flying laps in Qualifying.
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Having slipped down to P11 ahead of his final attempt, Beganovic’s late 1:35.772 put him up to fourth place, meaning that he is set to start his first F2 Feature Race from the second row of the grid.
“It was crazy,” said Beganovic of his first ever Formula 2 Qualifying. “It was my first session ever because I didn’t do any laps in Practice. But honestly, I am speechless, I felt good with the car, getting to know the car on the first two laps on the first run.
“Then on the last run, I kind of put it together, got a clean lap and it was P4 suddenly, so I am really happy with this.
“Also, DAMS have done a very good job. I know they had Qualifying as a weak point during the season and for them to bounce back to P4 is a great job from them and for me obviously.”
Beganovic says it “probably” helped that this was F2’s first visit to Lusail as it helped level the playing field even more given that all 22 drivers had to get to grips with the new surroundings.
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However, even with that, after not doing any laps in Practice, the Swede admitted that his only hope coming into Qualifying was that he did not end up last.
He will now have Saturday night’s 120-kilometre Sprint next to tackle before Sunday’s Feature and while he will be focusing in on both races, he has something else on his schedule first.
“First we are going to play some paddle,” Beganovic joked. “As it’s a night race, it will be a little about tyre management, probably not as much as Sunday, but I am just looking forward to getting some experience.
“Hopefully we have a good race, but my main focus is on Sunday, to have a good race there. Obviously, the pit stop is a new thing for me, I am getting to know everything still, but in general I am just enjoying today because I am extremely happy with it.”
In front of Beganovic for Sunday’s Feature are Championship rivals Paul Aron and Dino Beganovic, as well Victor Martins, and the Swede joked that he would like to avoid his two friends going for the title.
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“I think they are going to be more careful than me,” he joked. “But I haven’t thought about that, I didn’t think I’d be in this position, so we will see. I have to think about that, I have to dream about that.
“Let’s see. They are two of my best friends as well on the grid, so I will hope to not disturb them too much in their fight, but I will focus on my race and try to do a good job for the team.”