Tatiana Calderón is set to race at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the second time in her career as her IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup season continues.
The talented Colombian racer will make her return to IMS, the home of the world-famous Indianapolis 500 that is often affectionately referred to as the ‘Brickyard’, for the six-hour ‘Battle on the Bricks’ on September 22 together with the Gradient Racing team.
It marks the penultimate event on the five-round IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup schedule, with only Petit Le Mans left on the schedule after the Indianapolis race.
Despite the lengthy three-month interval since the previous round of the series at Watkins Glen in June, Tatiana has been keeping herself busy with her usual intense fitness training regime as well as simulator work, karting and test runs in the new-for-2025 FIA Formula 3 car that she helped develop. She has also recently visited Mexico City in her capacity as an ambassador for the upcoming Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The ‘Battle on the Bricks’ will take place on the 3.925-km IMS road course, which incorporates the start/finish straight of the historic oval. Tatiana has previous experience of the track from her time as an IndyCar driver in 2022 with the AJ Foyt Racing team, where in a rain-affected event she became the first female to have her name leading an IndyCar race a at the famous venue in more than a decade.
At Indianapolis, Tatiana will be reunited with her Gradient Racing teammates Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk in the #66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 as the team seeks to build on the momentum of scoring a podium in the sprint race at Road America last month.
For Tatiana, the strong performance shown last time out at Watkins Glen – even if penalties meant the final result wasn’t reflective of the team’s performance – will only serve to give her extra motivation and confidence to make her return to the ‘Brickyard’ a successful one.
Tatiana Calderón: “I’m really looking forward to being back in the car. It’s been a while since the last race at Watkins Glen, and I’m excited to team up again with Stevan and Sheena and to see the team again after such a long break. In the meantime I have been keeping busy, I have been doing some sim work and I have been helping with the development of the new FIA Formula 3 car. Also, I was in Mexico promoting the Mexican Grand Prix. I am very proud to be an ambassador together with Ivanna Richards and Santiago Ramos. We did some media tours there and I’m really excited to go back to Mexico on October 25-27 to feel that F1 vibe that the city has. That has helped keep me busy in the gap between races.
“Since Watkins Glen the team has done a great job in the sprint races. They had a podium at Road America so I’m hoping we can do the same in the remaining endurance races. Indianapolis is a special place for any racing driver and I have great memories from my time in IndyCar. It will be my first time driving a GT car there, but I really enjoyed my time when I was there. Hopefully we can have a positive result after such a long break.”
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