SPRINT RACE: Bedrin takes maiden F3 win in AIX Racing 1-2

Nikita Bedrin made his chance count to earn his first race victory in FIA Formula 3 for AIX Racing. Teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak capped off a great day for the team with P2 in Budapest, taking his first podium in the Championship while PREMA Racing’s Dino Beganovic finished third after fighting for the lead earlier in the race.

AS IT HAPPENED

Pole sitter Beganovic covered off Bedrin on the run to Turn 1 but the AIX driver was undeterred and rounded the Swede at Turn 2 to take the lead away. Inthraphuvasak followed in third position ahead of Callum Voisin and Christian Mansell.

The ART Grand Prix driver was under attack though on Lap 2 from Tim Tramnitz, and his MP Motorsport rival repeated the move of Bedrin into Turn 3 to take P5 from the Australian.

The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to neutralise the race in order to recover Matias Zagazeta’s Jenzer Motorsport car after contact on the opening lap left him on the sidelines.

Back to racing conditions and the top four were covered by less than a second in the lead battle. As the quartet fought, Tramnitz and Mansell joined the train after the opening exchanges, getting to within DRS range by Lap 6.

Further back, Luke Browning was up to ninth with a switchback on Sami Meguetounif into Turn 2 as he recovered from P15 on the grid.

Onto Lap 10 and Beganovic made a late move on Bedrin into Turn 2 but caught the grass on the inside of the corner in the process. It sent his PREMA car sideways and while he was able to catch the slide, his excursion off track dropped him to third behind Inthraphuvasak.

Into the Turn 6 and 7 chicane, Tramnitz squeezed his way alongside Voisin, who skipped across the chicane to keep hold of fourth. The Rodin Motorsport driver was told to concede the place to Tramnitz, seeing off any potential review from the Race Stewards. One lap later and Mansell was through on the Briton at Turn 1 for fifth position.

Out in front though, Bedrin was in full control after resisting the pressure of Beganovic and crossed the line to earn his first FIA F3 victory, leading home an AIX Racing 1-2 ahead of Inthraphuvasak, a result that means all teams have stood on the podium in 2024.

Beganovic was third ahead of Tramnitz in P4 and Mansell in fifth. Voisin was able to hold off Championship contenders Leonardo Fornaroli and Browning in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively.

ART’s Laurens van Hoepen was ninth and Meguetounif completed the points in P10 for Trident.

KEY QUOTE – Nikita Bedrin, AIX Racing

“Just won the Sprint Race here in Budapest. Really happy, started from P2 and did a good move on the first lap and then managed to keep the gap for the whole race. The pace was quite good, especially at the end of the race so quite happy with that. Really, really happy to get my first win and hopefully we can do something good as well tomorrow.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Gabriele Minì retains the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 119 points despite missing out on Sprint points, but Luke Browning moves himself back up to second, climbing onto 115 points. Arvid Lindblad drops to third but remains ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli on 113 and 97 points respectively. Dino Beganovic moves himself up to fifth place on 88 points.

Over in the Teams’ Standings, PREMA Racing continue to lead, moving up to 320 points ahead of ART Grand Prix who go onto 185. Trident are third with 158 while Hitech Pulse-Eight move to fourth above Campos Racing, both on 141 points.

UP NEXT

The Budapest Feature Race is set to get started at 08:10 local time on Sunday morning around the Hungaroring. Laurens van Hoepen leads an ART Grand Prix front row lockout ahead of teammate Nikola Tsolov.