Mercedes Junior Driver Doriane Pin says her Prema Racing car was ‘not enough’ to challenge for the win this weekend at the Miami International Autodrome as she struggled in the blistering heat with her tyres and set-up.
The Iron Dame failed to challenge the Championship leader Abbi Pulling throughout F1 Academy’s Round 2 in Miami after dominating the season-opener in Jeddah, falling 34 points behind the Alpine Junior Driver.
Pin told Motorsport Week: “It was still not enough today to take the win, but I think we improved the car from yesterday. We still missed and it’s still not enough but it is positive that we took good points for the championship. We were always consistent and fighting in the top position for the podium, so it’s important to analyse this weekend and just focus on the next one now.
“Yeah, it’s quite hot in there, especially humid, so you lose quite a lot of water, but it’s important to get it right before the race and after the race. We don’t have water in the car, so it’s fine, it’s only 30 minutes, I’m used to long races, endurance races, so it’s okay, but it’s still something to manage and something to take into account.
As Pulling sealed the double victory in Miami, Pin took second place in Race 1 and filled the third podium step in Race 2 after struggling with her set-up throughout the weekend.
Despite the setbacks, Pin was devastatingly close to overtaking the McLaren Development Driver Bianca Bustamante in the final moments of Race 2 but still secured the crucial points to keep herself second in the Drivers’ Championship.
Ahead of the next F1 Academy round in Barcelona from the 21st to the 23rd of June, the Mercedes Junior Driver will embark on her first FRECA campaign as part of the Iron Dame’s debut line-up in the feeder series.
In addition to racing in FRECA, Pin will continue driving as part of the Iron Dame’s race-winning team in WEC as she looks ahead to Le Mans in early June.
“Yeah, I’ve got quite a lot of stuff between Barcelona. I’m doing FRECA this season, and it’s an amazing opportunity for me as a driver because it’s also a challenging championship with a lot of cars, so I’m really looking forward to opening next week, it’s already next week,” Pin explained.
“Then I have the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Iron Dames, so it’s one of the biggest races of the year and I’m really excited and I hope we can achieve something good with the Iron Dames because we’ve worked so hard for that and I’m sure we will be strong. I’ve done Le Mans, so I already have a good picture of it, but GT is way different than the LMP2 for sure. Doing the road to Le Mans in 2021 gave me some references for the GT car.
“I think we have quite a lot of FP before the race so I think we’re going to focus on that and focus that everything is ready and everything is settled to perform and to be consistent and no mistakes, which is the key of 24 Hours of Le Mans, it’s not all about performance, it’s really about being intelligent and strategic and stuff, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Pin will aim to snatch back the points from Pulling to reassert herself as the F1 Academy Championship leader in Barcelona, a track she has much experience on.
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