Dino Beganovic, the victorious driver from Prema Racing, celebrates his win in the parc ferme after the FIA Formula 3 Championship’s Feature Race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia on 24th March 2024.
In the Formula 3 Australian Grand Prix Feature race, Prema driver Dino Beganovic successfully overtook his teammate Gabriele Mini and the polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli to claim victory.
During the initial stages of the race, Fornaroli maintained his lead while the Prema drivers held onto second and third positions without encountering any issues.
However, on the second lap, an incident involving Joseph Loake and Tommy Smith resulted in both cars ending up in the gravel, leading to the introduction of the Safety Car.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak also had a minor collision with the barrier at Turn 2 but managed to continue without major consequences while the rest of the field slowed down due to the Safety Car period.
After the restart, Luke Browning made a move on Nikita Bedrin at Turn 4, and Arvid Lindblad quickly followed suit at Turn 5, pushing the PHM AIX driver down to sixth place.
In the battle for seventh, Campos drivers Mari Boya and Oliver Goethe engaged in a duel, with the German driver successfully overtaking Boya at Turn 4 before attempting to challenge Bedrin.
However, Goethe’s attempt to secure sixth place on Lap 8 resulted in him going off track and falling behind his teammate once again.
Fornaroli managed to maintain his lead until Lap 10 when Mini closed in within DRS range and started putting pressure on the leader. Beganovic also maintained a strong pace.
Three laps later, Beganovic successfully overtook his teammate and set his sights on Fornaroli, who was 1.3 seconds ahead. Meanwhile, Browning demoted Mini to fourth place.
In the 14th lap, Beganovic overtook Fornaroli to take the lead in the race. The maneuver occurred on the inside of Turn 9 and allowed Beganovic to move ahead of the Trident team.
Following the top three, Boya and Montoya surpassed Bedrin, placing their respective Campos machines in fifth and sixth positions. Goethe, on the other hand, dropped back to 10th place.
One lap later, Montoya successfully passed Boya, who also lost a position to Wurz. Wurz’s impressive comeback drive from 14th on the grid resulted in him overtaking Boya.
As the race progressed, degradation became a noticeable issue. Lindblad, who was initially in fifth place on Lap 11, dropped to ninth in just two laps.
Beganovic also faced difficulties with graining, which prevented him from extending his lead over Fornaroli. Fornaroli still had the advantage of DRS with three laps remaining.
Approaching the penultimate lap, Mini made a recovery and secured a podium position by overtaking Browning on the outside of Turn 9, a popular overtaking spot.
Despite concerns about his tires, Beganovic held on and secured his first F3 victory in his second season. Fornaroli finished in second place, with Mini completing the podium.
Browning finished in fourth place, followed by rookie Wurz, Montoya, and Bedrin. Bedrin overtook Goethe on the final lap to claim eighth place. Mansell, racing for ART, earned the final point on home soil.
Prema had a great result, with two drivers on the podium and narrowly missing out on a triple-points finish. Lindblad crossed the finish line in eleventh place.
Campos, on the other hand, achieved what Prema couldn’t. Montoya, Boya, and Goethe finished in sixth, seventh, and ninth place, respectively, earning a valuable triple-points finish.