TATIANA AND TEAM BATTLE TO FINISH IN TOUGH SEBRING OUTING

Tatiana Calderón and her Gradient Racing team recorded their first finish of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup season in a challenging Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. 

Together with Till Bechtolsheimer and Joey Hand, Tatiana endured a character-building outing at the famous Florida airfield circuit, as the No. 66 Ford Mustang GT3 was classified 13th in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. 

Bronze-rated Bechtolsheimer took the wheel for the start of the race, beginning on Saturday a little after 10am local time, and was unfortunate to be involved in two on-track incidents, one of which he was penalised for, during his opening double stint. 

After a single stint for Hand, it was Tatiana’s turn to take the wheel of the No. 66 car just after the three-hour mark, at which point the team was still running on the lead lap despite their earlier setbacks. Tatiana stayed aboard the car for two-and-a-half hours, doing her best to keep Gradient in play on a day when the car appeared to lack pace. 

Bechtolsheimer took over at the cockpit at the 5hr30 mark for a single stint, before Hand completed a double stint, but a further penalty for exceeding the car’s energy allocation meant that the No. 66 machine was already multiple laps off the lead in class by the time. Tatiana returned to the cockpit with around three-and-a-half hours to go. 

The Colombian stayed at the wheel for nearly two hours, during the sunset period of the famous once-around-the-clock enduro, before Hand took over the reins once more for the run to the finish, the team finishing 42nd overall of the 56 starters. 

Tatiana recorded a total of 116 laps at the wheel of the Gradient Mustang, lapping at a similar pace to IMSA veteran Hand and gaining valuable experience of both car and track.

Tatiana Calderón: “Starting with the positives, we finished the race, all the crew did an amazing job in the pit stops and we didn’t lose anything there. We are still investigating the cause, but we didn’t have any pace since the beginning of the race. Strangely, the car felt very different to what we had in testing. We just tried to survive until the end and get the experience. We also had some penalties, but ultimately we just didn’t have the pace. I want to thank the team and my teammates Joey and Till for their hard work. We’ll have to take a closer look at what went wrong to make sure we come back stronger at Watkins Glen.” 

Tatiana’s five-round IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup season continues with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International on June 22.