Dino Beganovic put a difficult start to his 2024 campaign behind him by winning the feature race in Melbourne.
The Prema driver exercised patience in a race shaped by tyre degradation, making his two moves shortly after half-distance and maintaining his lead until the end.
Beganovic started the 23-lap encounter from third on the grid behind Leonardo Fornaroli and Gabriele Mini. The trio held their places at the start and after a rolling restart five laps later following the sole appearance of the Safety Car.
The order at the front was broken on lap 12 when Beganovic was told he was free to attack team mate Mini, and cruised past him in the DRS zone approaching the high-speed chicane of turns nine and 10. The next time around he repeated the move on Trident driver Fornaroli to capture the lead.
Despite the ease with which he made his two moves, Beganovic appeared content to allow Fornaroli to remain within DRS. The pair remained in close company until the chequered flag but Fornaroli never looked like making a move to reclaim the lead.
Mini initially appeared to be in trouble after Beganovic passed, falling victim to an attack by Luke Browning. However the Alpine driver hit back and reclaimed the final podium place on the penultimate lap.
Browning therefore finished fourth, a position he claimed on the first lap after the restart by pouncing on Nikita Bedrin. Arvid Lindblad also capitalised on Bedrin’s tardy restart for fifth place, but the Bahrain sprint race winner couldn’t keep his tyres alive and dropped out of the points places over the course of the race.
Charlie Wurz therefore rose to take fifth place after a strong drive from 14th on the grid, passing Campos duo Sebastian Montoya and Mari Boya on the way. The trio capitalised on Bedrin’s continued struggles, all three passing him on lap 15.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Oliver Goethe also made his way past Bedrin, but the pair swapped places again on the final lap, the PHM driver taking eighth. Christian Mansell claimed the final point in a tough race for ART.
Sprint race winner Martinius Stenshorne had a tough time on Sunday, tangling with Noel Leon at the penultimate corner on lap seven and coming in last of the runners in 26th.
Fourth place for Browning means he retains the championship lead but is tied on points with Fornaroli, the Williams junior driver ahead by dint of his Bahrain feature race win. Mini lies five points behind them while Beganovic’s victory propels him…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…