Doriane Stars as Juniors Shine in Abu Dhabi

Doriane Pin played a starring role in the latest round of the F4 United Arab Emirates Championship as excitement builds ahead of her debut F1 Academy season. The Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior and Iron Dame added yet another feather to her cap by taking pole position and race victory at Yas Marina.

Fellow Juniors Alex Powell and Yuanpu Cui also scored notable successes. Alex joined Doriane on the podium in P3, his third visit to the rostrum in the winter series so far, whilst Yuanpu scored his first points in the series by taking P9 in race three.

Doriane said: "I'm very happy with how our weekend went. It’s an incredibly competitive championship with a big field of 34 cars, so taking pole position and a victory was very special. It’s great to be fighting at the front and shows how much work we’ve put in. Racing in single-seaters is very different to endurance racing but we’ve put a huge amount of effort in to build my confidence. I now feel very comfortable in the car and can’t wait for the F1 Academy season. We’ve got the test in Jeddah next week and I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going into that."

The Frenchwoman secured her first pole position in single-seater racing, setting the fastest time for the opening race by just 0.009s. The 20-year-old outpaced a talented field of youngsters and things would get even better later that day.

She was initially beaten off the line by fellow front-row starter Kean Nakamura Berta and, despite running close behind for most of the contest, had to settle for P2 at the chequered flag. However post-race, Nakamura Berta was adjudged to have jumped the start with Doriane therefore inheriting victory. It is the second victory of her burgeoning single-seater career, adding to success at Sepang in Malaysia during the Formula 4 South East Championship last November.

Nakamura Berta’s penalty also moved Alex Powell up to P3, adding to his second-place finish in the second round of the series and victory at the Dubai Autodrome last week. Chinese racer Yuanpu also highlighted his progress by driving a strong race to ninth in race three.

The final round of the F4 UAE Championship takes place this weekend at the Dubai Autodrome. After that, Doriane’s attention will turn to F1 Academy, the all-female racing series that begins in Saudi Arabia on 8-9 March.

For Alex, he will tackle the Italian F4 and Euro 4 Championships, with Yuanpu racing in British F4 this year.