Doriane Pin: the endurance queen chasing F1
- cmarchisio0
- Apr 19, 2024
- 4 min read
The camera zooms in on the chequered flag as Doriane Pin prepares to cross the finish line of the Jeddah track in first position. A quick glance in the mirrors, Abbi Pulling is far behind. The engineers take off their headphones and prepare to celebrate her behind the barriers of parc fermé. But there is no sign of car number 28. Doriane’s voice is barely audible on the radio. She is asking for an explanation, but there is no response from the empty pit wall. The camera shifts to the only car still on track. "Maybe she didn't see the flag," the commentary announces.
Doriane climbs onto the top step of the podium, but after she finishes her champagne, stewards announce a twenty-second penalty that throws her out of the top 10. A mistake with disastrous consequences on her race result, but the only blunder in a weekend she dominated since Thursday's free practice. Doriane is disappointed, she had it all and lost it in a second. But motorsport is unforgiving and she is certainly not a quitter. In fact, when it all gets tough, she usually shines.
2008. A four-year-old blonde girl takes a picture of her dad as he speeds through the turns of a French karting track. The little one looks at home, she is enchanted by speed. She wants to be a driver, but not a karting one. She dreams of being in Formula 1. Three years later she is still at the track, insisting it's her time to drive, but they won’t let her just yet. She is still too small for a kart, in size and age. They encourage her to play tennis to distract her. Two years later, they finally let her try again. It only takes a few laps before she announces the verdict. “Dad, tennis is fun. But I want to race”.
There is only one, huge, problem: a season costs tens of thousands of euros. They get by as best they can. They enter her in a few events, all national. The results are good, but it’s all they can afford. In 2019, she is asked to pick just one race. She goes for the French Ladies' championship where the year before, in the junior one, she finished fifth. Team Pin sets off for the Angerville circuit. The other young girls are accompanied by professional mechanics in assistance trucks bearing the names of international teams. They wear flashy overalls and helmets. They hardly know Doriane. Her dad is her mechanic. Plus at 15 she is small for her age, the blue and white jumpsuit embroidered with the names of the few sponsors makes her look even thinner. But when she lowers her visor, something clicks. She finishes first in qualifying, first in the semi-finals and first in all three finals. The title of French national champion is hers.
Doriane, with so few races under her belt, is unable to find the sponsors she needs for a seat in Formula 4, transition category to open wheel racing. They offer her six races in the Renault Clio Cup in 2020. She finishes 14th out of around 40 entrants, all much older than her. The Clio Cup is not the most prestigious of championships, but it is enough to get her noticed. The French federation proposed her for the first edition of FIA Girls On Track, an international scouting initiative to find and support talented female drivers. The finals take place in Maranello in late 2020, the winner gets a contract with the Ferrari Driver Academy and a guaranteed seat in F4. Doriane is the fastest on a lap. She gets the Pirelli award. But Maya Weug, same age, four world karting championships raced, a more complete driving style and a better chance of doing well in F4, wins the spot in the prestigious Ferrari Driver Academy.
Ferrari offer her a GT test with Iron Dames, a team set up with Iron Lynx to make room for women in all motorsport roles, from logistics to engineering. With them she races in the Le Mans Cup, two GT World Challenge rounds in the Pro-Am category and two more in the Ferrari Challenge Europe Pro. The following year she returned with the same team for a full season in Ferrari Challenge and won nine out of fourteen races along with the drivers' title.
Together with Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy, she wins in her category at the 24 Hours of Spa. Once again she is the youngest, but learns quickly and in 2023 she is promoted to LMP2 in the World Endurance Championship with Prema, where she races with Mirko Bortolotti and former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat. It's a good season, at Sebring she gets a podium, but Doriane wants more.
Maya Weug, meanwhile, raced two seasons in F4 with decent results before being promoted to Formula Regional in 2023. Alongside her, other girls are climbing the junior championships. Jamie Chadwick dominates W Series and becomes a Williams reserve driver, Sophia Floersch races in F3. The Formula 1 world seems increasingly eager to have a woman on the grid. They launch F1 Academy, where fifteen girls can race an F4 car in a championship dedicated to them and sponsored by F1 itself. It is a controversial solution, given the level it is unlikely to give direct access to Formula 1. But 2023 champion Marta García is promoted to Formula Regional, against the boys, at no cost. Plus in 2024 the calendar will run alongside that of F1. It can be a giant stepping stone.
Doriane has been driving in GT for three seasons now. The cars are heavier and slower. She needs experience. So in November 2023, Prema send her to South-East Asia for the last two rounds of their F4 championship. Out of six races she competes, she collects five podiums and two wins. She is first among the rookies, ahead of drivers who have raced all four rounds. She is picked to represent Mercedes in the F1 Academy and she dominates the field in Jeddah.
There are twelve races left to finish the championship and Iron Dames have already announced that she will race alongside Marta García in Formula Regional. She continues to show her true potential, but the road to F1 is a long one. F3 and F2 are now an essential step. Both are extremely competitive championships, where out of around thirty participants, only two or three manage to make their debut in Formula 1. But Doriane is not a quitter.
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