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

Nikita Bedrin made his chance count to earn his first race victory in the F3 Hungaroring Sprint race, beating his team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and PREMA Racing’s Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic.

Pole sitter Beganovic covered off Bedrin on the run to Turn 1 but the aitalian was able to have a good run into Turn 2 and overtook the Swede on the outside. Behind the leading duo, 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 MPMotorsport 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.

Beganovic looked a bit quicker than Bedrin, and the Swede was eager to use his speed on Lap 10. He attempted an overtaking move into Turn 2, but he did not have enough space and touched the inside kerbs. As a result of it, he sent his car sideways. Although he was able to catch his Prema, he lost a spot to 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.

Commenting on the his maiden win, Bedrin noted: “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.”

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.