Dino Beganovic, PREMA Racing
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Dino Beganovic took his second Formula 3 victory of the season in the Belgian sprint race to boost his faint title hopes.
Starting from pole in drying conditions, the Swede lost the lead to Prema team-mate and championship leader Gabriele Mini at the start but took advantage of a wobble from the Italian at Raidillon following a safety car restart to force his way back past into Les Combes.
While Prema was cautious about the move as Beganovic had run across the Radillon kerbing in the lead-up to the pass, the incident was not even noted by the stewards.
Closing out the win, the only moment of concern for Beganovic came when he caught the Radillon kerb on lap eight of 12, something that caused a considerable slide and put Mini back on his gearbox.
The championship contenders had been somewhat spread out on the grid with Arvid Lindblad the lowest placed in 27th. His recovery drive got off to a perfect start as he made up nine places on the opening lap, with most of these gained on the run to La Source as he hugged the inside wall to slide past the battling backmarkers.
But this progress was quickly halted as Max Esterson lost control of his Jenzer at Raidillon and collided with the wall, causing a two-lap safety car intervention.
While Beganovic and Mini battled for the lead, Luke Browning (Hitech) did battle with Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort Racing), Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) and Santiago Ramos (Trident) for the final podium position.
After getting involved in a tangle with Sami Meguetounif (Trident) at Les Combes, Browning dropped to the back of the group and finished sixth but with a post-race investigation for forcing a driver off the track hanging over his head.
It was Leon who eventually joined the Prema pair on the podium, completing his move on Ramos on the final lap, steaming down the Kemmel Straight and forcing his car onto the dry line into Les Combes.
Following the safety car, Lindblad was able to progress to 12th but a five-second penalty for track limits infringements dropped him to 17th.
Mini now leads the standings by eight points from Browning, with feature race polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli, who finished eighth, in third and 13 points back.
Beganovic moves ahead of Christian Mansell (ART) into fifth, trailing Mini by 28 points.
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Source: Autosport