Dino Beganovic had taken just four points finishes in a tough rookie F2 season before he achieved a fourth-place finish in the feature race last time out at Silverstone. The Hitech driver and Invicta’s Leonardo Fornaroli spoke to Feeder Series about their prospects and preparation for this weekend’s F2 round at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

By Martin Lloyd

After taking a podium and two more points finishes in his two-round F2 cameo with DAMS at the end of 2024, Beganovic harboured high hopes for the 2025 season, but he is currently 10th in the standings on 43 points. 

The 21-year-old has finished on the podium twice this season, in Sakhir and Imola, but his third place in the latter round’s feature race marked his only points-scoring finish in a run of nine races from the Jeddah sprint to the Spielberg sprint. 

Beganovic’s results have picked up recently, beginning with ninth in the Spielberg feature race from 21st on the grid. In Silverstone three weeks ago, he joined Hitech teammate Luke Browning in scything through the field during a wet feature race. The pair brought home third and fourth places to combine for a field-high 27 points – results that give the Ferrari junior confidence with rain forecast across the Spa weekend.

“Silverstone was very strong on Sunday for both of us,” Beganovic told Feeder Series at a pre-event virtual media roundtable. “Even when we were running quite different [setups], it was very positive, so going into this weekend with chances of rain brings extra confidence after Silverstone. Also looking at the results from Paul [Aron] last year taking a pole position, I think we can be confident going into this weekend in both conditions.

Racing for Hitech last year, Aron ran third for much of the fully dry Spa feature race last season before he suffered a dramatic mechanical failure on the final lap and retired. 

“It’s always that in between in Spa, if it’s wet or dry. That part plays a big role,” Beganovic said. “Looking at it as an opportunity and a challenge is where my mind is at at the moment.”

The Ardennes weather provides one challenge, but another is the intense nature of the F2 calendar. While there has been a two-week break since the last round at Silverstone, the Hungaroring round immediately follows this weekend’s. Other than the opening round of the season in Melbourne, all F2 rounds this season have been either preceded or followed by another event on consecutive weekends.

“I don’t know how we do it!” Beganovic said with a laugh. “It’s a lot of travelling, especially when you’re doing the flights and hotels yourself. It’s a lot of planning in advance, which is not my strongest point, but it’s a lot of logistics and a lot of travelling. 

“You need to have a good management strategy of how to not waste energy while travelling. I’ve got quite good at that at this point because we’re travelling, when it’s double-header or triple-header, travelling from Italy to the UK, then to the track, doing the same thing from the track to Italy to the UK, again for [simulator time], to the track again. 

“Again a lot of travelling, but [it’s about] just trying not to waste energy on that. Be in a comfortable position, have some good series to look at on Netflix, and then you’re set!”

Fellow F2 rookie Leonardo Fornaroli of Invicta Racing explained that how and when he prepares changes depending on the upcoming race schedule.

“The only thing we do is to do one or two days of simulator every time before every race weekend,” Fornaroli said. “If we have a bit more time, we do it the week before. Otherwise when it’s a double-header or more races consecutively, we do it on the Wednesday, and then Wednesday night we travel to the race. 

“Also sometimes, because we work with AVL, we go there in Graz to develop the car, to help the team.” AVL Racetech is an Austrian vehicle dynamics firm that has worked with the Norfolk-based team on simulator work since 2016, back when they were known as Russian Time. In 2024, Invicta and AVL stepped up their partnership to include gearbox development.

The consecutive rounds at Spa and Hungary could prove crucial with just 24 points separating the top five in the championship. Richard Verschoor leads the drivers’ standings on 122 points, six points ahead of Silverstone feature race winner Jak Crawford on 116. Alex Dunne in third has 108. Fornaroli in fourth 104, and Browning in fifth 98. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency