Doriane Pin

 

Doriane Pin is a French driver who races sportscars in Europe. She was one of the finalists in the FIA’s official Girls on Track - Rising Stars programme.

She began her senior career in 2020, racing in the Clio Cup in France. Her best finish in the Clio was a ninth place at Paul Ricard and she was fourteenth overall, but second in the Junior standings. This was combined with her Rising Stars assessments, in which the leading young female drivers competed for membership of the Ferrari Academy. Doriane finished second to Maya Weug.

She had intended to compete in French F4 in 2021 and was also one of the finalists for the Elf Winfield Scholarship. As a prize for being the best of the girls there, she tested an F4 car, but the Iron Dames all-female GT team signed her up and her focus became sportscars. She had already tested the team’s Ferrari as part of her Girls on Track assessments; the Iron Dames team works closely with Girls on Track.

Before this new phase of her career could get under way, she tried ice racing at the Andros Trophy, finishing fifth in an invitation race at Andorra. She was driving an Enedis electric prototype.

Back with petrol power, her first race as an Iron Dame was meant to be in April, but she sat out the first round of the Le Mans Cup. She made her debut in the team’s Ferrari 488 in July, at Paul Ricard, finishing third in the GT3 class. Her co-drivers for the season were Sarah Bovy and Manuela Gostner. This was one of six podium finishes for the team, who finished second at Monza and third at both Le Mans and Spa. Doriane was fifth in the GT3 drivers’ standings.

She also joined Iron Dame Sarah Bovy in a Ferrari for two rounds of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. They were sixth at Catalunya and Paul Ricard.

Late in the season, she joined another Iron Dames driver, champion Michelle Gatting, in the Ferrari Challenge. Doriane scored two sixth places at Mugello.

Before her Ferrari guest drive, she tested an FIA Formula 3 car at Magny-Cours, alongside Maya Weug.

She stayed an Iron Dame in 2022, taking up the seat vacated by Michelle Gatting in the Ferrari Challenge. It was soon clear that she was the driver to beat, taking two wins from two pole positions in the first two races at Portimao. She won four of the six races, finishing third in another and fourth in another, both at Paul Ricard. Her dominance led to a win.

As the season went on, she played a bigger part in the main Iron Dames team. In July, she helped Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting to a class win in the ELMS LMGTE Drivers Trophy at Portimao, after a second at Spa. 

She remained part of the Iron Dames setup in 2023, although she raced for Prema in the LMP2 class in the WEC. She shared her car with ex-F1 driver Daniil Kvyat for most of the year, and they were ninth in their class. Mirko Bortolotti joined them for Le Mans, but a crash during Kvyat's night stint put them out at about one-third distance. Theyhad run as high as second in LMP2. Their best finish was a second in class at Sebring, at the beginning of the season.

She joined the Iron Dames in their Lamborghini Huracan for three rounds of the IMSA championship, beginning at Daytona. In what was a learning year, their best finish together was twelfth at Petit Le Mans. They also competed together as a four at the Spa 24 Hours, but did not finish. 

At the end of the season, Doriane made a surprising move back to single-seaters, with Prema. She did the Sepang rounds of the F4 Southeast Asia series, winning one race and scoring podium finishes in three more. She was linked to a Prema seat in the all-female F1 Academy for 2024 and the rumours were true; she became Mercedes' supported driver. After a win in the first race at Jeddah, she looked like a strong bet for the title, but a disqualification for post-race speeding dropped her to ninth in Race 2. She was then injured during her parallel campaign in FRECA for the Iron Dames, pulling out of the second Spa race, then the Zandvoort and Hungary rounds when she became ill. 

Although she did not miss any F1 Academy races, she was off the pace somewhat mid-season. She recovered and scored two more wins, at Zandvoort and Abu Dhabi, finishing second in the championship to Abbi Pulling. 

Her FRECA season was not as successful. This was the first time she had driven a single-seater at this level in competition and her best finish was only a fourteenth place at Paul Ricard. She was 27th in the championship.

As part of her continuing relationship with Iron Dames, she joined their sportscar team for the Daytona 24 Hours and two rounds of the World Endurance Championship, driving a Lamborghini Huracan. She and her team-mates Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey were sixth in the GTD class at Daytona, 25th overall. In the WEC, she did the Qatar and Imola rounds, finishing 23rd overall and eighth in class at Qatar, as part of a three-driver team.

She will continued as a Mercedes junior in F1 Acadamy in 2025.

(Image copyright Girls on Track)

Kaori Okamoto

 

Kaori Okamoto is a Japanese driver and former actress who raced touring cars both in Japan and internationally in the 1980s and 1990s. 

She was strongly associated with Toyota cars, and often drove for the TOMS team from the very beginning of her career.

Her first season was in 1986, she drove a Toyota Corolla in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship. She was 23 years old and still acting at this point. Her car was sponsored by Wacoal, a Japanese bra manufacturer, and she initially shared with different European drivers. Eje Elgh and Beppe Gabbiani. Teaming up with Elgh again later in the season, she had her best finish alongside him, a twelfth place at Sugo. Her early experiences led to a decision to concentrate on motorsport and work only on Japanese TV projects.

By 1987, she was competing in the World Touring Car Championship for TOMS, in a Corolla, with Hideshi Matsuda. They did not finish the Spa 24 Hours, but were 30th in the Fuji 500km. For the Japanese championship, she was sponsored by Leyton House. Her co-driver was Hideshi Matsuda and they were eighth in their first race together at Sugo. This was their best finish in a disappointing season plagued by DNFs.

In 1988, she raced  a similar car in some European and Asia-Pacific championship events. A second attempt at the Spa 24 Hours led to another DNF, as did most of her entries in the All-Japan Championship, usually with Morio Nitta as her team-mate. 1989 was another indifferent year, with her best result an 18th place at Tsukuba.

The Spa 24 Hours became one of her favourite events and she was entered seven times between 1988 and 1994. For the first few editions, she drove a Corolla, and it was in this car that she scored her highest finish: twelfth in 1989. An MR2 in 1992 and 1993 was not quite as successful and only got her as high as 24th in 1992. Her final attempt was in a Carina and she did not finish. Her most frequent co-drivers were Keiichi Suzuki and Morio Nitta. 

Other than that, she mainly concentrated on the Japanese touring car championship, completing most of the season in 1990 and 1991, driving a Corolla for the TOMS/Fujitsu Ten team, and later the FET team. By this time, the Corolla was not the most competitive and could not get anywhere near the dominant Nissan Skylines. Her best result during this period was a fourteenth place in the 1991 Suzuka 500km. 1991 was her last season in the championship.

In 1991, she also entered the Dakar Rally, in a Toyota. She became the first Japanese woman to finish the event when she crossed the line in 49th place. A return to the dunes in 1992, in another Toyota Landcruiser, gave her a 71st spot.

A cancer scare caused her to turn away from motorsport in 1994. This was the second in a few years and she did require treatment this time.

For more information on Kaori: https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/motorsport-kaori-okamoto-actor-businesswoman-race-car-driver/

(Image copyright TOMS)