Pin reflects on Zandvoort victory and penalty as she insists PREMA 'can fight' for Teams’ title

PREMA Racing’s Doriane Pin believes her team can chase down Rodin Motorsport to retain their champion status, especially after she impressively bounced back from her Race 1 penalty in Zandvoort.

While Rodin's Abbi Pulling has a strong lead of 71 points in the Drivers’ Standings to second-placed Pin, PREMA are just six points adrift of Rodin after achieving three podiums in Zandvoort.

Two of those came courtesy of Maya Weug, while Pin’s exemplary victory in Race 2 ensured there were three podium finishes to celebrate. The French driver's triumph also represented an impressive turnaround from her disappointing time penalty she picked up in the first race due to a false start.

“I’m feeling great after Race 2 especially,” Pin said. “Race 1, I had a jump start – I didn’t have a proper jump start where I start before the lights, but it was a little movement that (got) me a five-second (penalty), so obviously I was trying to push and create a gap to have this five seconds on track to try and keep my position.

“It was not enough. I think we finished at four seconds, so we missed one second. I think a few more laps here would be good but yeah, a bit disappointing. Obviously it’s not a mistake that I did before, so I’m in the learning process.

“It’s a shame for the championship obviously because we want to score points, but it went well in the next (race). We started from pole and we managed to create a gap straightaway and finish P1.

“I think it’s an amazing feeling to be on the top step of the podium again and to be there and winning races, having pole positions as well. I think the team as well deserve this win because they did a really good job during the summer break, so I’m happy to achieve that today with them.”

Pin ultimately crossed the line in P2 in Race 1, but the time penalty dropped her down the order to fifth, promoting Nerea Martí to second and Pin’s teammate Weug onto the podium.

However, the Mercedes driver emphasised that she did not let the incident affect her performance later in the day as there was only a short period to prepare for Race 2.

“If you start to think a lot then you’re getting lost in yourself and your thoughts," she explained. "We realised a little bit what was wrong, and then just focused on Race 2.

“We normally do a really good start, so it doesn’t mean I’m losing my skills to start the race, I don’t think so. The race start was really good in Race 2, better than the two cars behind, so we were able to pull (away), and this is good. This means (showing) resilience and coming back even if we have one hour between both races, so it’s good. This is positive.”

Pulling claimed the most points for Rodin in Zandvoort, with her teammate Lola Lovinfosse taking 6 points and Jess Edgar failing to score. With PREMA becoming the team to beat over the weekend, they are well and truly in the hunt to take the lead in the Teams’ Standings.

“To stay strong we need to bring results, and we did that today,” Pin said. “We are competitive and we know we can fight for the championship.

“It’s exciting to see that we’re that close with Rodin. We are trying to get ahead in the next races, but Singapore will be very interesting. It’s a cool track – I’ve been driving it on the simulator and it's a lot of pleasure to drive there already in the sim, so I guess in real life it will be amazing.

“I think we don’t have so much experience on the track, I mean we never went before, myself and also the team, so it’s going to be really challenging work and a challenging race for the drivers but also for the teams. We have to now focus on Singapore and bring good results there.”