Pin puts a hand on F1 Academy title with Las Vegas race one victory

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

A composed drive earned Doriane Pin victory in F1 Academy’s first race around Las Vegas’s Strip circuit last night, and put her on the brink of title honours.

Rain fell beforehand and Pin’s title rival Maya Weug headed to the grid with wet tyres while others switched to them once they arrived there.

There was further pre-race drama, as a clutch issue left Rodin Motorsport’s front row starter Emma Felbermayr stranded on the grid as the safety car led the field through two formation laps and Hitech GP’s Nicole Havrda did not leave the pitlane.

A rolling start was then used, meaning Prema’s reversed-grid polesitter Nina Gademan chose when the field accelerated to racing speed.

There was a misunderstanding just behind her of when she did that, and MP Motorsport’s Weug crashed into the back of Prema’s Tina Hausmann before the race had even began.

Their cars needed recovering, meaning the safety car led the first three laps and Pin and MP’s Alba Hurup Larsen were promoted to second and third.

Rain began falling just before the start, and Pin had to cover off the inside before turn one as Larsen loomed in her mirrors. Gademan went deep at turn two but stayed ahead, while Larsen swept around the outside of Pin through turn three.

Chloe Chambers overtook Campos Racing team-mate Alisha Palmowski for fourth at turn five, and Larsen claimed the lead with a bold move on the outside through turn 10. She instantly pulled away, but a tap of the wall with her rear-right wheel at turn 16 led to her then spinning at the last corner.

Gademan had braked late into turn 14 to keep Pin at bay, so now led again. There was a group of five at the front, but on lap six Rodin’s Ella Lloyd tried passing Palmowski on the outside into turn five and crashed out so the safety car returned.

The track began to dry, and all drivers bar Pin weaved down the Strip ahead of the lap nine restart.

Pin kept with Gademan, and Palmowski reclaimed third from Chambers by sliding into turn five on her outside then holding the inside through the next two corners.

Gademan weaved again down the Strip, but Pin drove past and Chambers overtook Palmowski into the final chicane. But the pair then made contact and Chambers was sent spinning through turn 16 in front of Lia Block. The Campos pair retired, Block fell from fifth to seventh and Pin snatched the fastest lap from her just before the safety car returned for the remaining laps. It secured victory for Pin, who only needs a top-six finish in race two to guarantee the title.

Palmowski was disqualified post-race for an incorrect Belleville stack configuration and MP’s Joanne Ciconte was penalised 10 seconds, lifting Block to fifth behind ART Grand Prix’s Aurelia Nobels and Hitech’s debutant Rachel Robertson.

Nobels started 13th following the pre-race drama, rose to eighth on the first lap of racing, and sat sixth for the second restart. She went off at turn one but kept her position, then profited from Campos’s crashers for her maiden podium.

Race results (12 laps)