Young French talent Doriane Pin completes another perfect weekend in Ferrari Challenge and adds two more victories to her outstanding campaign after the third round at Hungaroring.
Iron Dames - the all-female team launched in 2019 by Deborah Mayer - is making strides in all the series they have been entering. From ELMS, FIA WEC, GT World Challenge, Ferrari Challenge, and most recently, Formula 4 - the Iron Dames are breaking stereotypes and making motorsport history.
In the Ferrari one-make series - this year at its 30th anniversary on track - Iron Dames brought home a historic title in 2021, when Michelle Gatting sealed the European Pirelli Trophy title at the Mugello season finale. Sharing that same grid with the Danish ace was Doriane Pin, 18 year old French talent who made her first appearance in the 488 GT3 Challenge in preparation for her full campaign in 2022.
And, straight from her debut, Doriane Pin has left her mark: a double-pole position and double-win at debut at Portimao, Portugal, set the tone for the opening rounds of the championship, where the young racer has been utterly dominant.
At the third round of the season, Ferrari Challenge visited the home of the Hungarian GP at Budapest - the famous 4.381 km Hungaroring circuit.
It was Doriane Pin's first race weekend at the track but, once again, she swept the competition.
Race 1
Starting from second place on Saturday, Pin knew that the tight nature of the circuit likely meant she had to make the most out of the start: with a great reaction, Doriane tried to go around the outside of polesitter John Wartique and eventually completed the move at Turn 2, when she decisively took the lead of the race and never looked back.
Wartique tried to respond back in the first couple of laps and kept the pressure on the pink #83 Ferrari, but Pin never made a mistake and opened a small safe gap.
Behind them, experienced racer Josef Kral moved into third, followed by Luka Nurmi - after both passed Italian rookie Donno at the start, dropped to seventh. Rosi spun after contact with Cozzi on the first lap; but there was even more trouble for the latter, who received a drive through penalty for crossing the white line at pit exit.
Ange Barde had a great launch and moved into fifth place, first in ProAm. Behind the Frenchman, David Gostner had a good battle for the ProAm podium with Christian Brunsborg and Arno Dahlmeyer. Both found a way past Gostner after a mistake by the Italian at turn 1.
Pin pulled away and put over 2 seconds between her Iron Lynx Ferrari and second-placed Wartique, with former F2 driver Josef Kral almost 8 seconds behind. Having initially battled with Kral, Nurmi was then under pressure from ProAm leader Barde in the closing minutes, but the Formula Racing driver held on to fourth overall.
Pin managed the gap and took a comfortable win - the third of her season after the impressive season opener. John Wartique was handed a 5-second time penalty for track limits but retained second, finishing half a second ahead of Scuderia Praha's Josef Kral.
"I was really calm in the car - the plan was to pass John [Wartique] at the beginning and I did it around the outside at the second corner", said Doriane Pin after Saturday's race. "I took the chance and after that I just tried to manage the drop of the tyres. It was good and I'm super happy."
Pin made a further step forward on Sunday morning, when she claimed pole position with an impressive 1:46.597 lap. Kral preceded Wartique and Nurmi on the grid - for what was expected to be another exciting race at the hot Hungaroring.
race 2
Doriane had a blistering start and surprised the rest of the pack as the lights went out; Wartique moved ahead of Kral, while it was chaos in the midfield as David Gostner missed his braking point and, after going through the grass on the inside of Turn 1, he crashed into Donno and Dahlmeyer. The German was able to rejoin, albeit one lap down. After a Safety Car neutralization, the race went back to green with 20 minutes left on the clock and Pin was not caught unprepared: she pulled away quickly, leaving Wartique and Nurmi behind. A big battle in the ProAm positions saw Ange Barde trading positions with Marco Pulcini - and then Nicolò Rosi in the class lead. Barde and Mugelli, though, were handed drive-through penalties for jumping the start, leaving Rosi and Pulcini in contention for the class win. It would be the former to come home ahead, having also passed Kral for fourth overall. With five minutes to go, Pin enjoyed a four second margin to John Wartique - before she once again managed the gap until the chequered flag, taking her second win of the weekend. "I'm super happy, four wins are [a great result] and the team is also strong. They did an amazing job since the start of the season. We won the two races in Budapest and I'm super happy" - Pin commented. With another masterful performance, Doriane Pin leads the standings with 91 points, 15 points clear of John Wartique. “Hungaroring is a difficult and technical track and considering she didn’t know the track where others have tested, Doriane learned very quickly and showed an impressive pace all weekend in Ferrari Challenge Europe" - said Iron Lynx team principal Andrea Piccini. "Her start in race one was perfect, showing great experience and race craft at such a young age." “The second race was again another excellent performance from Doriane, maintaining the gap at the front and looking after the car to record another win", Piccini continued. "It’s strengthened her championship lead, and she seems very determined to keep up this pace." Her flawless weekends in Ferrari Challenge did not go unnoticed and Iron Dames have now announced that Doriane Pin will be part of the main line up for the upcoming 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps in GT World Challenge Europe. She is set to share the 488 GT3 Evo with Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy. Pin, who has raced in SRO in a one-off appearance last year at the 1000km of Paul Ricard and also stepped in at the 6H of Spa Francorchamps in the second round of FIA WEC last May, will return to Ferrari Challenge at Hockenheim, Germany, on 22-24 July.
