until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Mercedes Formula 1 junior Doriane Pin will miss the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours after suffering fractured ribs, which will also disrupt her intensive 2024 single-seater programme.
The 20-year-old Frenchwoman is a title contender in F1's all-female F1 Academy series this year, dovetailing that with racing in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine and some sportscars races.
She was scheduled to take part in her second-ever Le Mans 24 Hours next month but will now be forced to skip it after the discovery of some fractured ribs.
"After some medical checks, we found out that I had some fractured ribs and you need time to heal, and we had to make a difficult decision with my team to not race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans," Pin said.
Pin's dovetailing her sportscars races and F1 Academy programme with a maiden venture in the FRECA series (an intermediate step between F4 and Formula 3) with the Iron Dames outfit. That's after a winter where she competed in both Formula 4 South-East Asia and Formula 4 UAE - becoming a race winner in both.
Pin has a best finish of 22nd so far in the three FRECA races she's competed in, having initially withdrawn from the second race at Spa last weekend due to illness.
It was medical checks following that withdrawal that confirmed Pin had suffered broken ribs in an unspecified incident.
Pin was going to compete in FRECA's third 2024 round at Zandvoort the week before Le Mans, but she confirmed she'll miss Zandvoort, too.
"It's very tough and sad, especially for Le Mans, it's one of the biggest races of the year and a very special one for me," Pin explained.
"I was looking forward to drive there but also to share that week with all of you and my team. I have to do the best for myself and also for the Iron Dames."
Pin joined the Mercedes F1 junior programme ahead of her debut in F1's all-female F1 Academy in 2024. She was the star of the season-opening weekend in Saudi Arabia and only erroneously taking the chequered flag twice in the second race cost her a double victory.
Pin added a second and third place at the second round in Miami to put herself second in the championship to the current points leader, Alpine-backed Abbi Pulling.
The third round of the Formula 4-spec F1 Academy season is due to take place alongside the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya next month.
Pin says she plans to return to racing at that event, meaning theoretically her F1 Academy campaign will be unaffected.
