24H Le Mans: Heartbreak for Doriane Pin after leading 21 hours at La Sarthe
- RACERS
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
A stellar performance on the biggest endurance racing stage in the world that was set to make history. Until a brak disc failure intervened, Doriane Pin and her Duqueine teammates had produced a genuine Le Mans-winning performance and will undoubtedly remain one of the stories of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For Doriane Pin, the 2026 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was the story of a dominant performance, that ultimately ended in cruel disappointment.
Across practice, qualifying and more than 20 hours of racing, the Frenchwoman and her Team Duqueine's teammates were the team to beat in the LMP2 field, with Pin playing a central role in what looked set to become a historic moment.
Returning to Le Mans for the first time since 2023, Pin arrived at La Sarthe carrying momentum from an impressive European Le Mans Series campaign. Having already secured podium finishes and regularly challenged for victories in LMP2 Pro-Am competition, she stepped into the highly competitive LMP2 Pro category alongside Richard Verschoor and Julien Andlauer: together, the trio immediately became the class favorites.
The signs were clear from the opening practice session: driving the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca, Pin topped the first practice session with a 3:35.248 lap. The time placed her seven tenths clear of the #14 TDS Racing Oreca and nearly a second ahead of the #28 IDEC Sport machine. The pace continued throughout the following Qualifying session. The Frenchwoman clocked a 3:34.662, that left her half a second clear of Aguilera's CLX Motorsport Oreca and secured another session-topping result before she returned to the pits satisfied with her work. As the clock expired, Pin finished first once again, with a record-breaking LMP2 qualifying lap to secure first place in class and comfortably advance the team into Hyperpole.
For Hyperpole 1, Verschoor took over driving duties. A delayed run left the Dutchman without a representative lap until the final minutes of the session, but when it mattered, he set a 3:34.386 that secured him fifth and safely advanced Duqueine into the final Hyperpole shootout.
Andlauer then stepped into the car for Hyperpole 2. The Frenchman immediately challenged for pole, and as the session progressed and lap times continued to fall, Andlauer eventually concluded the session sixth fastest. The result meant the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca would start sixth on the LMP2 grid, though its pace throughout the week suggested it was capable of much more.
Race day arrived under warm sunshine and packed grandstands at La Sarthe. Starting sixth, Andlauer wasted no time moving forward. A superb opening lap elevated him to fifth through the first corners before he continued his charge into third. He then overtook George Kurtz's CrowdStrike by APR entry to claim second place and quickly set his sights on race leader Job van Uitert in the IDEC Sport Oreca.
The Duqueine driver consistently matched the leader's pace and remained within a second of the lead while maintaining a comfortable gap to the chasing pack.
When the first round of pit stops began, Duqueine opted for a slightly different strategy. By staying out longer than several rivals, Andlauer inherited the class lead by lap nine. Fourth after his first stop, a decisive pass on AO by TF's Dane Cameron elevated the Frenchman back into third place. Through subsequent pit cycles he repeatedly cycled into the lead before rejoining near the front, consistently maintaining pressure on the leaders.
By the third round of stops, Andlauer handed the car to Verschoor after lap 31, the team emerged ahead of both IDEC Sport and Inter Europol Competition. Once the remaining rivals completed their stops, Verschoor found himself leading the LMP2 category. From there, the race began to tilt heavily in Duqueine's favour.
The Dutchman rapidly established a gap over the pursuing field and extended his advantage to ten seconds over the IDEC Sport entry. Even a dramatic moment involving contact with the Ferrari Hypercar of Fuoco failed to derail the team's momentum. By the next pit cycle, Verschoor's speed late in the stint had transformed a narrow lead into a commanding 22-second advantage over Forestier Racing by Panis. Shortly afterwards, that margin stretched beyond 30 seconds.
Three and a half hours into the race Verschoor handed the leading car to Doriane Pin.
Immediately, the Frenchwoman produced one of the most impressive stints of the first stages of the race: her first flying lap was a 3:39.4, already among the quickest times in class. She then repeatedly dipped into the 3:38 range, becoming one of only a handful of drivers capable of running under 3:40 consistently at that moment.
At the four-hour mark, Pin led the LMP2 category. The gap that had stood at around 20 seconds steadily expanded, and lap after lap, Pin increased her advantage to 30 seconds and then nearly 40 seconds by lap 66. When she pitted on lap 67 and remained in the car for a second consecutive stint, the dominance continued and she comfortably reclaimed the lead.
By the time she completed a triple stint, she had spent more than two hours behind the wheel while keeping Duqueine in control of the race. Although tyre degradation eventually reduced the advantage slightly, Pin managed the situation and handed the car back to Andlauer with the team still leading comfortably.
As darkness fell over Le Mans, Duqueine continued to dictate the pace: Andlauer immediately took advantage of fresh tyres, regularly lapping below 3:40 and steadily increasing the lead once again. By lap 98 the advantage had exceeded 40 seconds, and shortly afterwards it surpassed one minute.
Even as Inter Europol Competition attempted alternative strategies and went longer, Duqueine found itself back in front after every pit cycle.
At one stage Andlauer held a lead of approximately one and a half minutes over CLX Motorsport. Later, a safety car intervention and Full Course Yellow periods repeatedly erased large portions of Duqueine's advantage, but each time the team rebuilt the gap through superior pace.
In Pin's second appearance during the night she matched the pace of Nico Müller and the Inter Europol challengers while repeatedly producing laps in the low 3:40 range. Even when forced to run older tyres during long stints, she remained among the fastest drivers in class.
Pin once again resumed her strong pace, frequently running in the 3:39 bracket while maintaining control of the race. By halfway, Duqueine and Inter Europol had emerged as the two principal contenders for victory, with a substantial gap back to the rest of the field. The final third of the race in fact developed into an increasingly intense duel between Duqueine and Inter Europol.
Andlauer, Verschoor and Pin continued rotating through the cockpit while consistently remaining at the front. Each driver completed crucial stints. Andlauer repeatedly opened gaps exceeding 40 or 50 seconds; Verschoor countered the attacks from Nico Müller, Tom Dillmann and Reshad de Gerus; Pin continued to produce remarkably consistent laps despite growing pressure from the Inter Europol entries.
With eight hours remaining, Team Duqueine remained the car to beat. However, the race changed dramatically following a series of caution periods. An emergency fuel stop for Pin briefly compromised the team's strategy and allowed Inter Europol to close in. Although a subsequent issue for Dillmann's car temporarily returned the lead to Doriane, the once-dominant advantage had evaporated and the race became a sprint.
At the 18-hour mark, Pin still led by nine seconds. A major safety car caused by a heavy accident for the Manthey Porsche then compressed the entire field once again. All of Duqueine's hard-earned advantage disappeared, but at the restart, Andlauer delivered a masterclass, as he immediately broke clear and traded qualifying-style laps with De Gerus. The Frenchman repeatedly lowered the benchmark, eventually recording a 3:36.690 while maintaining the lead.
But the margin never grew beyond a few seconds and, after the next sequence of stops, Verschoor emerged leading by only fractions of a second. De Gerus soon overtook him, and the top three LMP2 contenders became separated by barely two seconds.
Then came disaster. After leading and controlling the race for the vast majority of the event and remaining in contention for victory, Pin's dreams ended abruptly. On lap 308, with just over three hours remaining, Verschoor suffered a front brake disc failure approaching the Mulsanne chicane and the Dutch driver was forced to stop the #30 Oreca by the side of the circuit.
The race was over. The retirement brought a devastating end to one of the strongest performances of the entire 2026 Le Mans field; for nearly 21 hours, Team Duqueine had been the reference in LMP2 and the trio of Pin, Verschoor and Andlauer had led countless laps, repeatedly overcome safety cars and disruptions, and demonstrated race-winning speed in every phase of the event.
For Pin in particular, it was a breakthrough performance on the biggest endurance racing stage in the world that was set to make history - while the result sheet will show only a retirement.
Yet that statistic fails to capture what was an extraordinary weekend. Until the mechanical failure intervened, Doriane Pin and hear Duqueine teammates had produced a genuine Le Mans-winning performance and will undoubtedly remain one of the stories of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
