Mercedes Junior Driver Doriane Pin joins the Iron Dames for its first-ever Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) entry alongside the inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia.
The all-female motorsport project has entered two cars for their debut FRECA entry for the 2024 season as part of their hopes to expand the project to different forms of motorsport.
With success in endurance racing and rallying, the Iron Dames have recently signed two young female karters ahead of national karting championships after a successful scouting event.
The Frenchwoman has been part of the Iron Dames line-up since 2021, first competing in the Iron Lynx all-female team in the GT3 class of the Le Mans Cup.
Pin will partner with the inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia, who recently signed with the Iron Dames ahead of her fully-funded FRECA debut in May.
Pin said: “ I feel grateful for this opportunity to participate in such a championship. I’m fully committed to this new challenge and can’t wait to be on track and make the most of it. It’s fantastic to take another important step in single-seater racing together with Iron Dames and Mercedes.
“Together with Marta, we aim to inspire young girls around the world to pursue their dreams fearlessly and embrace opportunities in racing.”
At just 20 years old, the French driver has had a successful career so far in endurance racing and has started to make her mark in the realm of single-seaters.
Winning nine out of the 14 races in the 2022 Ferrari Challenge, Pin’s victories alongside her 10 pole positions and 11 fastest laps secured her the title in the final round.
In 2023 Pin replaced Rahel Frey in the Iron Lynx line-up for the European Le Mans Series, going on to drive alongside Iron Dames Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting.
The all-female line-up secured a pole position and the first victory for the team at the season finale at the Algarve International Circuit.
Pin made her official FIA World Endurance Championship debut in 2023 after impressing at a rookie test in Bahrain, partnering with Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat driving for Prema in the LMP2 category.
A successful first season earned her a full-time seat in the Iron Dames line-up for 2024 to race in the LMGT3 category of WEC with Bovy and Gatting as teammates.
The Frenchwoman made her single-seater debut in 2023 with a brief stint driving for Prema in the Formula 4 SEA Championship, finishing second in the championship.
After a short spell in the Formula 4 UAE Championship, Pin was nominated to the F1 Academy 2024 grid as a Mercedes Junior Driver.
She dominated the opening round of the all-female series in Jeddah, taking both pole positions and leading every lap in Race 1 and 2 before losing her Race 2 win due to taking the chequered flag twice.
Iron Dames founder Deborah Mayer said: “I’m delighted that the Iron Dames project is entering FRECA with Doriane and Marta. Stepping into a new single-seater championship is another step in our drive to promote and develop the brightest female talent in motor racing.”
Upon signing with the Iron Dames, Garcia said: “I am delighted to become an Iron Dame. It’s a great opportunity for me, for my present and future. I’m aware of how much the Iron Dames programme has done for women in motorsport and I’m incredibly proud to join the squad.”
After the announcement of Pin’s FRECA entry, Garcia continued: “I’m really happy to join the new Iron Dames FRECA programme and I cannot wait for the season to start. I’m determined to work as hard as possible to make this project succeed, and by doing so, to really prove our potential.
“I also look forward to working with Doriane. I think we are a well-sorted combination and that we will work positively together to make the team and ourselves progress, learn and achieve. I want to thank Iron Dames for this opportunity, let’s make the most of it!”
With the FRECA season-opener in Hockenheim scheduled for May 12th, Pin and Garcia will debut the iconic Iron Dames livery in the team’s first dedicated single-seater entry.
Pin signing for a full season in FRECA raises questions about the clashes in her schedule for both F1 Academy and WEC as this year’s FRECA calendar clashes with the 6 Hours races in Spa, Sao Paolo and Fuji, as well as the F1 Academy round in Barcelona.
It was announced that Rahel Frey will be rejoining the Iron Dames line-up in WEC for Spa and the final rounds of the Championship in Austin, Brazil, Fuji and Bahrain in place of the French driver.
The all-female line-up will take to the German circuit as two of the most highly-respected female drivers in the current world of motorsport donning the name and livery of the most successful all-female motorsport project in history.
