Doriane Shines on Successful Weekend for Juniors

Junior Driver Doriane Pin was the star of the F1 Academy show in Jeddah, completing a near-perfect weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The Iron Dames racer’s dominance was stark: two pole positions. Led every lap. Fastest lap in both races. Unfortunately, she took the chequered flag twice in race two. She was given a 20-second time penalty and thus dropped to ninth.

No such disappointment existed the day before. Doriane made an ideal debut in the series in race one. A lights-to-flag victory and surviving multiple safety car restarts. Fittingly, all on International Women’s Day.

"It's a really great start to the season,” said Doriane on Friday.

“We worked super hard as a team over the winter so it's great to see that come together."

On Saturday afternoon (F1 race day) it was a case of déjà vu, with Doriane leading every lap to finish almost two seconds clear of Abbi Pulling, before she was penalised at the end of the day.

The penalty also dropped Doriane from first in the standings and a lead of 18 points to third, 12 points of adrift of Pulling.

Round two of the season will take place alongside the Miami Grand Prix in May, with F1 Academy set to appear on the Formula One support bill a total of seven times in 2024.

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Elsewhere in Jeddah, Kimi Antonelli came away from his second weekend of Formula 2 with two sixth place finishes, moving him into the top 10 in the standings.

The Italian recovered well from a slow start in the Sprint Race, moving up three positions in the closing laps to reach P7, before benefitting from a post-race disqualification.

In the Feature Race a day later, Kimi maintained position off the line, and drove a solid race to record his third points finish in a row. He will be back in action Down Under in two weekends’ time on the support schedule for the Australian Grand Prix.

There were strong results too in Karting. Kenzo Craigie’s first full weekend in the Champions of the Future series saw him finish fifth in the OK Junior Grand Final in Valencia.

Competing in the same series, Luna Fluxa also reached the final of the OK Senior category, following a series of good results in the heats. It was the first time the 13-year-old had competed at OK Senior level.

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