Here is a wild thought for the future of touring cars: we might actually see a woman back on the DTM grid by 2027. According to Motorsport.com, F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin is currently completing her second test in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 this week, and there is a realistic chance she could land a Mercedes-AMG cockpit for next season. It has been a long time since a woman raced in the series, with Ellen Lohr making history back in 1992 with her legendary victory in a Mercedes against Keke Rosberg and company.
Pin has been putting in the miles, stepping into a Winward-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside DTM runner-up Maro Engel and Fabian Schiller for a two-day Pirelli tyre test at Le Castellet at the end of October. She reportedly attracted attention with good times on her GT3 comeback. The tests, in which manufacturers commission teams to test experimental tyres blind, are normally for tyre development. However, testing was carried out on unheated tyres on the second day, mirroring DTM conditions, and she is back in the car this week for another test at the Hockenheimring run by the Landgraf team in the presence of Mercedes-AMG manufacturer representatives.
All of this points toward a potential DTM cockpit chance, especially as it remains unclear who will start for Mercedes-AMG in the series next season. While Lucas Auer is expected to continue with the German team, there is uncertainty over the second cockpit that has been occupied by Tom Kalender for the past two years. Pin joined the Mercedes junior team in 2024, won the F1 Academy title in 2025 on the Formula 1 support bill, and was promoted to development driver for the Mercedes Formula 1 team in 2026. Since a full-time Formula 1 seat is currently considered unrealistic, placing the 22-year-old from Paris in the DTM gives her a logical future prospect after her single-seater triumph.
Her resume outside of open-wheel racing is already stacked. Pin began her karting career in 2013 at the age of nine and won the European Ferrari Challenge title in 2022. That same year, she took victory at Portimao and second place at Spa-Francorchamps in the European Le Mans Series with her Iron Dames colleagues Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy in a GTE Ferrari. In 2023, she finished third in the WEC season opener at Sebring in Prema's LMP2 prototype alongside teammates Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, earning high praise from Bortolotti for her maturity and speed. Now, the question is whether she and Bortolotti might cross paths again on the DTM grid in 2027.
