Beganovic Seizes Baku Sprint as Tsolov Fades and Câmara Pays the Penalty

Dino Beganovic passed polesitter Nikola Tsolov for the lead at the start of Lap 6 and controlled Friday’s reverse-grid Sprint in Baku, as Alexander Dunne climbed from tenth to third with the fastest-lap point and Rafael Câmara’s early contact left him 16th after a 10-second penalty.

Baku’s supersized Round 12 opened with a Sprint that rewrote the morning script. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov started from reverse-grid pole; by the chequered flag he was fifth, and Dino Beganovic was on the top step.

The DAMS Lucas Oil driver, starting third behind Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen, took the lead at the start of Lap 6 of 21 and controlled the race to the finish in a provisional race time of 45:48.207. Van Hoepen held second for TRIDENT. Alexander Dunne recovered from tenth to third for Rodin Motorsport, adding the fastest-lap point to a six-point podium haul.

Early Safety Car and Câmara’s penalty

The first Safety Car arrived early. Mari Boya spun into the wall at Turn 2 after Rafael Câmara locked up and tagged him, ending Boya’s race on lap 0. Câmara received a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

Beganovic’s pass on Tsolov at the start of Lap 6 settled the lead fight. From there the DAMS car managed the race out front while Tsolov’s rear tyres faded, dropping the Campos polesitter back through the order.

Late Safety Car, final-lap chaos

A second Safety Car followed when Joshua Dürksen hit the wall at Turn 1 and retired on lap 17. At that stage Câmara was running fourth on the road; he pitted to serve the time penalty and eventually finished 16th.

The final-lap shootout restart brought more damage. Oliver Goethe misjudged his braking and took out Gabriele Minì, who had been running near the points. Ritomo Miyata and Noel León also clashed at Turn 1 and did not finish, both classified as retirements on lap 20.

Title picture after the Sprint

After the Sprint, Tsolov leads the championship on 181 points from Câmara on 170 — an 11-point cushion that had been seven entering Baku. Minì remains third on 153 after his late contact. Dunne moves to 146; pole points for the Features are awarded when those races start. Beganovic climbs to 116 after his win.

In the teams’ standings, Campos lead on 300, ahead of Invicta on 260 and Rodin on 221.

What’s next in Baku

Feature Race 1 follows later on Friday at 14:15 local time, with Dunne on pole from Qualifying 1. Feature Race 2 runs on Saturday from the Qualifying 2 grid. Two Features remain in a weekend that has already stretched the title fight.