ELMS: Doriane Pin fights through setbacks as Duqueine takes P7 in challenging Imola round
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Despite an early setback, Doriane Pin and her teammates mounted an impressive recovery drive from one lap down back to podium contention at the 4 Hours of Imola, but a technical issue during the final pit stop ended the team's podium streak, ultimately finishing seventh.
After enjoying an outstanding return to endurance racing in 2026, Doriane Pin arrived at the third round of the European Le Mans Series at Imola leading the LMP2 ProAm championship with the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca crew alongside Giorgio Roda and Richard Verschoor.
The reigning F1 Academy champion had immediately proved to be among the quickest drivers in LMP2, claiming back-to-back class podiums at Barcelona and her home race at Circuit Paul Ricard. At the season opener, Pin impressed with front-running pace and claimed the Goodyear Wingfoot Award before charging to another third-place finish at Le Castellet, where she produced one of the fastest closing stints in the field after the team recovered from a qualifying disqualification that forced them to start from the back of the class.
Pin had also been among the protagonists of the 24 Hours of Le Mans just a few weeks earlier; together with her Duqueine teammates, she looked on course for a historic LMP2 class victory after leading for much of the race before a heartbreaking brake disc failure with just over three hours remaining ended an exceptional effort.
Returning to the European Le Mans Series for the 4 Hours of Imola, the Frenchwoman and her teammates were determined to continue their remarkable campaign.
The Duqueine Team immediately looked competitive around the historic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. In the opening practice session, the #30 Oreca finished fifth among the LMP2 ProAm entries, with Pin setting the fastest lap of the trio in 1:32.861. Giorgio Roda once again proved why he has been one of the category's benchmark Bronze-rated drivers by topping Friday's dedicated Bronze session with a 1:33.854 lap, edging the #47 CLX Motorsport Oreca by one tenth of a second.
The pace remained encouraging in FP2, where Pin was once again the quickest of the three drivers with a 1:33.631, while Richard Verschoor also remained within a few tenths, confirming the balance of the car heading into qualifying.
As the designated Bronze-rated driver, Giorgio Roda handled qualifying duties for the #30 Duqueine Oreca. Returning to the ELMS squad after missing Le Mans, the Italian immediately resumed his impressive qualifying form. His first representative lap placed him eighth before he immediately improved, finding time in every sector to post a 1:34.004 that moved him onto provisional pole with seven minutes remaining.
The battle for pole intensified when Kolovos became the first driver to break into the 1:33s, temporarily demoting Roda to second. The Italian responded brilliantly: improving through every sector, he reclaimed provisional pole with a 1:33.233 before producing an even better lap of 1:33.195. Although he was unable to improve his second sector on his final attempt despite another fastest opening sector, the lap proved enough.
DKR Engineering's Glorieux came close but finished just 0.007 seconds slower after a late spin exiting Tosa forced him back into the pits. Roda also returned to pit lane during the final minute, safely securing pole position for the LMP2 ProAm class. It marked another flawless qualifying performance for the championship-leading Duqueine Team, placing Pin, Roda and Verschoor in the best possible position ahead of Sunday's four-hour race.
Sunday afternoon brought another action-packed European Le Mans Series contest around one of Europe's most demanding circuits - the narrow track leaving almost no room for error throughout the four-hour endurance race.
Starting from LMP2 ProAm pole position, Giorgio Roda made an excellent getaway, negotiating the opening laps cleanly while retaining the class lead and immediately finding himself battling among the LMP2 Pro entries. DKR Engineering's Glorieux remained glued to the rear of the Duqueine Oreca throughout the opening laps, but Roda responded by continually lowering the class fastest lap, gradually trying to build a small cushion over his closest rival.
After only six laps, the first interruption arrived when Nick Adcock's M Racing LMP3 machine went off in the Rivazza gravel trap. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed before the full Safety Car, allowing several teams to opt for alternative strategies by pitting immediately. Roda stopped on lap eight before the full Safety Car period began.
When racing resumed 33 minutes into the event, differing strategies had changed the order. John Falb inherited the class lead by staying out, leaving Roda second while he and Glorieux worked their way back through mixed LMP2 traffic. Another Full Course Yellow soon interrupted proceedings after Paul Lafargue's #28 IDEC Sport Oreca became stranded in the gravel.
Back under green, disaster struck the championship leaders. While running strongly and leading the LMP2 ProAm field, Roda was caught out by cold tyres approaching Tosa. The Italian ran deep into the corner and made contact with the barriers, damaging the front of the Duqueine Oreca.
Although he managed to recover the car and continue, the damage forced an unscheduled pit stop for repairs. The team replaced the damaged front bodywork, but the lengthy stop cost the #30 crew a full lap and dropped them down the order, dealing a major blow to their hopes of another podium.
With the race approaching the one-hour mark, Roda extended his stint in an attempt to regain track position as other ProAm competitors completed their second scheduled stops. The strategy briefly elevated the Duqueine Oreca back to eighth before another Virtual Safety Car, triggered by the stranded Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, created another strategic opportunity.
The team elected to pit immediately, handing the car over to Doriane Pin for the middle portion of the race. Pin rejoined in 11th position but crucially benefited from the pass-around procedure during the Safety Car sequence, recovering the lost lap and returning to the lead lap in tenth position. With over two and a half hours remaining, the recovery effort was very much alive.
When racing resumed with 2 hours and 32 minutes remaining, Pin immediately began extracting the pace of the car. Running behind Ferdinand Habsburg's CLX Motorsport Oreca, she lowered the team's fastest race lap to a 1:33.661 before improving again to a 1:33.486, steadily reducing the gap while remaining patient in heavy multi-class traffic.
Another major incident soon interrupted the race when Clement Mateu collided with the innocent Ameerh Naran at Tamburello, while several LMP2 cars were simultaneously caught out by the Virtual Safety Car at Acque Minerali, resulting in a multi-car collision involving Sami Meguetounif and Maceo Capietto.
The Duqueine Team reacted immediately by bringing Pin into the pits during the neutralization. Following the latest round of pit stops, the Frenchwoman had climbed to seventh in class.
Once green flag racing resumed with 1 hour and 49 minutes remaining, Pin continued her recovery. Running consistently in the 1:34s while navigating traffic, Doriane overtook Ferdinand Habsburg to move into sixth before setting her sights on Matthieu Vaxiviere ahead.
Closing by several tenths per lap, Pin reduced the gap to under one second. A brief Full Course Yellow for debris interrupted the duel, but once racing resumed she continued to maintain very competitive pace despite spending much of the stint in traffic.
After a good recovery drive that had brought the Duqueine entry back into contention, Pin brought the #30 Oreca into the pits on lap 80 with 1 hour and 13 minutes remaining. Having recovered from eleventh to sixth while keeping the car competitive, she handed over to Richard Verschoor for the closing stint.
Verschoor emerged from the driver change in seventh position, though the order remained fluid as the final sequence of pit stops had yet to fully cycle through. The Dutchman in fact immediately began making up ground; in heavy traffic, he executed an excellent move to pass Antonio Fuoco, promoting the #30 Duqueine Oreca into third position once the pit cycle had settled and suddenly placing the crew back into podium contention despite the costly early setback.
Once clear, Verschoor settled into a consistent rhythm in the 1:34s. Behind him, however, Fuoco and Milesi remained close, with the battle for the final podium position becoming one of the tightest contests on the circuit. The pressure briefly eased when Fuoco and Milesi made contact at Variante Alta while fighting each other, allowing Verschoor to breath.
Lorenzo Fluxá's #7 Vector Sport Oreca remained around seven seconds ahead in second place, while Antonio Fuoco soon closed back onto the rear of the #30 machine. The pair traded virtually identical lap times, with less than a second separating them for several laps as Verschoor defended third place.
With just over half an hour remaining, the race entered its final strategic phase. Verschoor made his last scheduled refuelling stop on lap 106 with 31 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, what had been shaping up as a superb recovery suffered another setback: a technical issue during the pit stop cost the Duqueine Team valuable seconds, dropping the #30 Oreca from the thick of the podium fight down to seventh in class once the final sequence of stops had been completed.
Although now around ten seconds adrift of the group ahead after losing time in the pits, Verschoor continued to lap consistently in the low 1:36s while gradually reducing the deficit.
Slowly but steadily, he reeled Fuoco back in, cutting the gap from around ten seconds to approximately four by the final laps, but the lost time ultimately proved impossible to recover.
The Dutchman brought the car home in seventh place in the LMP2 ProAm class after one of the most eventful races of the season for the championship leaders.
While the result marked the team's first finish off the class podium in 2026, it nevertheless reflected a determined recovery after circumstances had threatened to end their race much earlier.
The outcome nevertheless had championship implications as Pin, Roda and Verschoor lost the LMP2 ProAm championship lead and slipping to third in the standings on 37 points, six behind the new leaders.
The European Le Mans Series now heads to another iconic venue for the fourth round of the season, with the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps scheduled for 22-23 August, where the Duqueine Team will be aiming to return to the podium and reignite its title challenge.