At the fourth round of Ferrari Challenge Europe, Doriane Pin was able to claim another "grand slam", with two dominant race wins, two pole positions and two fastest laps at Hockenheimring, as she now enjoys a 29-point lead.
The historic home of the German GP, Hockenheimring, hosted the fourth round of the Ferrari Challenge last week with its brightest star, Doriane Pin - already championship leader - who managed to make the most out of the weekend, taking home victory in both races.
She proved to be immediately fast at the German racetrack, finishing the free practice session in second place, only 0,022 of a second slower than John Wartique. And she would replicate her performance during the first qualifying session: she hit the track only five minutes before the chequered flag and still managed to snatch pole position.
The first race of the weekend could have been a challenging one after the qualifying session: Doriane managed to get the pole by milliseconds over some competitive rivals: Pin's benchmark was a bit close to comfort to Luka Nurmi (Formula Racing), John Wartique (FML - D2P), Conrad Laursen (Formula Racing), Thomas Neubauer (Charles Pozzi - Courage) and former F1 driver Adrian Sutil (Gohm Motorsport).
RACE 1
As soon as the lights went out, Doriane engaged in a battle with Nurmi: the Finnish racer soon tried to take the lead and succeeded by the end of the main straight. His first place, though, didn't last long, as Pin managed to defend from Neubauer's attack and overtook Nurmi as soon as by Turn 2. She immediately tried to stretch her lead but the Safety car was deployed when Marco Pulcini (Al Tayer Motors) hit Thomas Neubauer's car (Charles Pozzi – Courage) at Spitzkehre and her advantage was neutralized.
Luckily, the Safety Car was on track for one lap only and the race resumed with 23 minutes to go. Doriane Pin did an amazing job at the restart and kept increasing her lead lap by lap, with multiple drivers behind her battling for the point-paying positions.
Everything went pretty smoothly until Adrian Sutil (Gohm Motorsport) made contact with Eliseo Donno (CDP – Best Lap) and spun into the gravel: luckily, he was able to get out and continue his race. In the PRO-AM category, Alessandro Cozzi (Formula Racing) and Hanno Laskowsky (Riller & Schnauck - ZvO Racing) were so busy fighting for fourth place that both drifted off track and into the gravel, fortunately without damage.
Eliseo Donno was handed a 10 second penalty for the incident with Sutil but surely was one of the fastest drivers on track: he managed to close his gap to Luka Nurmi and then overtook him after a thrilling battle. Doriane took the checkered flag with an almost fourteen second lead, followed by Luka Nurmi and Eliseo Donno (demoted to third due to the penalty).
“It was amazing, I am super happy about the pace as I was very very fast during the whole race. I had a good start, I was second at the first corner but I managed to overtake Luka [Nurmi] at the second corner. I want to thank the team because the car was amazing.” -Doriane stated.
RACE 2
Doriane Pin managed to put her stunning pink Ferrari on the first spot of the starting grid again on Sunday morning; with a lot of confidence, she went out again in the final minutes to put in a single push lap that was enough to snatch the second pole position of the weekend, followed again by Luka Nurmi (Formula Racing) and John Wartique (FML - D2P).
At the race start, she did an amazing job and retained the lead, despite the Finnish driver's attempt to overtake her.
With a bunch of battles behind her, Pin was able to increase her gap, continuously improving her lap times, until the Safety Car was deployed due to a leakage that soiled the track, fastly restored. The race resumed with 13 minutes to go and saw the pack bunched up again: Doriane, as always, was well able to maintain her lead, while Nurmi, and Wartique tried to undermine her first place, unsuccessfully.
While battles went on in the top 5, Marco Pulcini was busy fighting with Arno Dahlmeyer (Scuderia Niki – Iron Lynx) for the second step of the PRO-AM podium: the pair made contact and Pulcini spun into the gravel but rejoined.
Thomas Neubauer spent the first laps after the restart trying to overtake Eliseo Donno in fourth place, but suddenly he had to defend his position from Conrad Laursen, at his debut in the series, who had a way faster pace than the Frenchman and managed to overtake him with two minutes to go.
As the last lap began, Eliseo Donno went off track due to mechanical issues, gifting the fourth position to Laursen. Doriane Pin was again the first to cross the finish line, followed by Wartique, author of a thrilling overtake on Nurmi during the final lap.
“Sunday was hotter compared to the day before, so it was a little bit more challenging, but I think we did a great job all weekend: it was perfect. I'm super happy for the team and also for my teammate Arno Dahlmeyer, who was P2 in ProAm." - Doriane said.
Doriane Pin completed the fourth round of Ferrari Challenge Europe Pirelli Trophy collecting all available points at Hockenheimring and thus significantly extending her lead in the championship. She'll be soon back on track for the 24H of Spa Francorchamps, in a full female line-up with Iron Dames' Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey, and we can't wait to see her in action again.
The Ferrari Challenge will be back in action in September, at the majestic Silverstone Circuit, for its penultimate round.
