Tatiana Calderón continues her European Le Mans Series season this weekend as she makes her return to one of her favourite circuits, the legendary Spa-Francorchamps.
The Colombian driver will be hoping to build on the positive momentum from the previous race at Aragon, where she and her Team Virage teammates, Ian Rodriguez and Alexander Mattschull, scored their best result of the 2023 campaign so far in sixth.
This weekend’s four-hour race will mark Tatiana’s first visit to Spa in an LMP2 car since she contested the opening round of the World Endurance Championship in 2021 with the Richard Mille Racing team, although she raced at the track last year in Formula 2.
The much-loved Belgian track has been the scene of some of her finest achievements in a single-seater, although it will always be associated with the tragic accident that claimed the life of her Formula 2 teammate Anthoine Hubert in 2019.
As well as famous corners like Eau Rouge, Blanchimont and Pouhon, Spa is renowned for its fickle weather, and the forecast for this weekend’s race is no different, with rain currently expected. The temperatures will also be much lower than those seen at Aragon, which will make setting up the Oreca 07 LMP2 car a challenge.
The Pro/Am LMP2 field at Spa will be made up of 10 cars out of a total of 41 entries. The week begins with a day of collective testing on Wednesday, which will no doubt be crucial to Tatiana and the team’s preparations. The race weekend begins proper on Friday with opening practice, before qualifying on Saturday afternoon and the race on Sunday.
Tatiana Calderón: “I’m really looking forward to Spa. Since the last race we have done a lot of analysis and we have a clear idea of what we need to work on for the first day of collective testing. Spa is a track with both good and bad memories, but I enjoy the layout, the flow and the challenge it presents. It’s always a compromise between being fast in sector two and the straights in the first and final sectors. The weather is always unpredictable, which also helps to keep things interesting. We’ve been making a lot of improvements as a team with procedures and pitstops, so hopefully we can make another step forward and fight for a top-five finish, or maybe even a podium. That will be the aim for this weekend.”
4 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS TIMETABLE
Friday September 22
Free practice 1 - 11am
Saturday September 23
Free practice 2 - 10:15am
Qualifying (LMP2 Pro/Am) - 2:55pm
Sunday September 23
Race - 11:30am
