Tatiana Calderón completed her first full campaign as an endurance racing driver as the European Le Mans Series season drew to a close last weekend at Portimao.
The Colombian rising star belied her lack of experience in the discipline as she partnered fellow female racers Beitske Visser and Sophia Floersch for the final two regular ELMS races of the season and in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the undoubted highlight of the season.
Unfortunately, any hopes of ending the year with a flourish in the 4 Hours of Portimao were thwarted by engine trouble, which not only forced the Richard Mille Racing crew to start from the rear of the LMP2 field but also severely compromised race day preparations.
Tatiana in particular saw her running restricted to just two laps on Saturday, and due to the way the pitstop strategy played out in the race with caution periods, she was only able to take over the wheel of the #50 Oreca 07 for a little over 50 minutes in the closing stages.
In the end, the 27-year-old brought home the car in 11th, scoring a valuable half-point which ensured Richard Mille Racing concluded its debut ELMS season in the top 10 of the LMP2 teams’ standings – bringing down the curtain on a solid first campaign in the discipline.
Tatiana Calderón: “Of course we would have liked a better result to finish off the ELMS season, but it was a difficult weekend. We had some engine issues which required an engine change and compromised our running, I actually had only one lap in FP2, so we couldn’t maximize the race set-up because of the lost track time. The race was a bit complicated as well with the strategy, and at the end I only drove one-and-a-half stint. It’s not the best feeling, but that’s racing sometimes. However, looking back on the season overall, there have been some real highlights, and I fell there was a lot progress made throughout the year. Considering the situation with COVID-19 and all the additional complexities that came with it, I’m quite happy with how it went. I’m excited to see what the future holds in endurance racing, but now my immediate focus is on Super Formula and completing my campaign in Japan.”
There are still four races left to run on the Super Formula schedule in Japan, the first of which takes place at Autopolis on November 14-15.
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