Marta García and Doriane Pin navigated challenging weather conditions at the Red Bull Ring, with García achieving her best FRECA finish in 14th place and Pin securing two top-20 finishes, demonstrating strong performances despite difficult circumstances.
The Red Bull Ring hosted a hectic eighth round of the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, with treacherous weather conditions and cold temperatures marking a challenging weekend for the Iron Dames.
Nevertheless, Marta García was able to survive a very chaotic second race with precision and a cool head, making up positions to finish 14th from 21st on the grid, thus collecting her personal best finish in the series to date, in her second top-15 this year.
Her teammate, Doriane Pin, also fought fiercely in the midfield throughout the weekend, eventually securing two top-20 finishes, completing both races in P17 despite tricky qualifying sessions.
The Austrian weekend was marked by awful weather and cold temperatures, with most of the sessions contested in wet conditions, which made for a tricky start for the two Iron Dames drivers, who have been learning the car and improving at each round.
Just one week ago, both García and Pin made steady progress in Imola, especially in the wet second race where Pin was fighting for points until a technical issue saw her race end prematurely. For García, it was another solid run, as she kept it clean, picked up positions, and maintained a competitive pace in the closing stages, securing her fifth top-20 of the season.
A few days later, the Iron Dames FRECA team tackled the eighth round at Red Bull Ring, on the track where García claimed her first F1 Academy victory last year.
Pre-event testing and practice were marked by very changeable weather; both drivers were trying to get closer to the top-20 but needed to find more time in qualifying on Saturday.
Doriane Pin was drafted in Group A, which went out first in qualifying on Saturday morning. Temperatures continued to be very cold, but raining had temporarily halted. Pin found over a second on her second lap but remained in P15 in class. The Frenchwoman then moved up into P14, but slipped back to 15th by the end of the session, which saw some light rain returning over the Austrian track.
In Group B, Marta García set the 12th fastest time after her first lap. She briefly went third fastest with a 1:31.928 with 9 minutes to go, but the times were dropping fast: the F1 Academy inaugural champion clocked a 1:29.123 that put her 12th fastest, and she then went under the 1:29 barrier but held her position. Despite further improvements in the final minutes, Garcia's 1:28.642 placed her P14 in class for Race 1.
Alessandro Giusti's 1:27.025 was 17 thousandths of a second short of James Wharton's time in Group A, with the Australian scoring the first pole position of the weekend.
Rain began just as the cars headed to the grid in the afternoon for Race 1. Edgar Pierre went off in the gravel on the way to the grid, showing how difficult the conditions were, requiring everyone to start on wet tyres.
Marta García made a good start from 27th, passing Veselaho and Andriolo, with Pin – who had lined up on P29 – also getting ahead of the G4 Racing driver before Turn 1. It was a chaotic first lap, but both Marta and Doriane climbed the order, until Zachary David and Ruiqi Liu went off, and the Safety Car was deployed. Pedro Clerot also went through the gravel in an unrelated incident.
The race restarted with 22 minutes to go, and there were immediately plenty of incidents: Teophile Nael went off, Clerot and Lacorte spun out at the same corner, and Marta García tried to avoid them but was collected by Yaroslav Veselaho. Luckily, she was able to continue without major damage. Doriane Pin, among those avoiding the incidents, moved up to 19th before the second neutralization of the race.
The safety car gave Lacorte the chance to pit for a new front wing and gambled on slick tyres. With 16 minutes to go, the race went green again: Wharton and Giusti led the pack, and Pin battled with Maschio for P18, but then lost out to Clerot. Marta, already recovering to P23, tried to catch Andriolo again.
Doriane Pin showed stronger pace than a couple of cars ahead, and fought hard for the top-20. García, meanwhile, fell behind the recovering Tuukka Taponen, who had also dropped down the order during the contacts on the restart. As Bohra and Clerot dropped down, Pin moved up to P18, and Marta to P22. However, García began to struggle on the old wet tyre in the closing minutes, losing time to Lacorte, who made up ground on slicks and passed on the penultimate lap.
Pin extended her margin over Domingues and kept gaining on Kanato Le; on the final lap, they were separated by 1 second, but Pin couldn't quite get close enough to attempt a move. After an action-packed Race 1, Doriane Pin recovered 12 positions to finish P17, and Marta Garcia crossed the line in P23.
"The mixed conditions made it a challenge, but overall, it was a smart race with some good progress", Pin stated. "Looking forward to applying what I've learned tomorrow."
Sunday morning's Q2 was held on a very wet Red Bull Ring. Group B qualified first, and Marta Garcia set a 1:43.377, placing her P11 in extremely difficult conditions.
In Group A, Doriane Pin’s session was soon red-flagged after Enzo Peugeot went off into the gravel. After the restart, Pin set a 1:47.531, finishing P12 as conditions remained barely drivable. Badoer took provisional pole ahead of Camara – but it would be Noah Stromsted to secure the top spot with his fastest lap in Group B.
A few hours later, Stromsted shared the front row with Brando Badoer for the first dry session of the weekend, as Marta García started P21, ahead of Doriane Pin in P24.
At lights out, Nael took the lead from the second row, García held P21, while Pin fell to P27. On the second lap, a multi-car accident involved championship contenders Camara and Taponen, as well as Bhirombhakdi, Rinicella, Giusti, Peugeot, Pierre, and Deligny.
Both García and Pin avoided the collisions, which promoted Marta to P18 and Pin reached the top 20 as the Safety Car was deployed.
On lap 5, the race restarted, with several cars going wide into Turn 1. García continued to gain positions, reaching P17, while Doriane fell to P22 after being overtaken by the recovering Peugeot and Deligny.
Positions changed continuously in the midfield: Marta battled the recovering Camara, who eventually overtook the Spaniard. After contact between Andriolo and Liu, however, she advanced again, despite then facing pressure from Liu, who overtook Le. Doriane also moved up after Deligny’s car came to a halt at Turn 1, triggering another Safety Car.
The race restarted with just over a minute to go. Nael managed the restart well, but Stromsted went side-by-side with him for the lead before backing out. Meanwhile, Camara, who had recovered back to the top 10, aimed for more and continued to charge.
In the hectic final lap, Marta García defended well and moved up to P17, ultimately crossing the line in 16th. Post-race penalties, including one for championship leader Camara, promoted Marta to 14th, her second top-15 finish and a personal best in FRECA, improving on her 15th place at Spa.
"It's been cold and challenging", the Valencian said, "a weekend with a lot of improvements. Started the race week at the very back, analysing everything and managed to improve for Q2 and Race 2."
"Closing the weekend with a P14 in Race 2. Happy with the improvements made, and managing to stay in the race without any incidents."
Similarly, Doriane Pin finished P18 and was promoted to P17 after penalties, marking her third top-20 finish.
"Not the day we wanted", Pin commented. "A super wet qualifying followed by a dry race after minimal dry running, but we fought our way to P17 and learned a lot of lessons this weekend."
Teophile Nael took victory for Sainteloc Racing, surviving heavy pressure from Noah Stromsted, who had to defend hard from Brando Badoer and Matteo De Palo on the final lap.
Overall, it was another positive step for both García and Pin, especially in Race 2, where they made up ground and avoided chaos in difficult conditions.
The next round will be held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, García’s home round. Before that, Doriane Pin will return to F1 Academy for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
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