Tatiana Calderón will get her 2021 racing season underway in earnest this weekend as she tackles the opening round of the new Super Formula season at Fuji Speedway.
The Colombian rising star will be hoping to build on the experience she gained during a challenging but rewarding rookie campaign in Japan’s premier single-seater category as she extends her relationship with the ThreeBond Drago Corse team.
Tatiana’s season begins with a gruelling 41-lap race at former Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix venue Fuji, which hosted the final round of the 2020 Super Formula season. A strong performance that yielded the fifth-fastest lap of the race, combined with a further four days of track time across the post-season test in December and last week’s second pre-season test, means the track is the ideal place for the 28-year-old to kickstart her year.
While Tatiana enjoys continuity with ThreeBond Drago Corse and the Honda-powered Dallara SF19, there have been a few changes to the rules for the new season. One is a permanent increase in the Overtake System (OTS) allocation from 100 seconds to 200 seconds, which is sure to increase chances to pass, while qualifying will now take place on a Saturday after a single practice session instead of on the Sunday morning prior to the race.
Tatiana will continue to race with the support of ROKiT, Maisy Kay, Bandero Tequila and the Colombian Ministry of Sport, and this year she will also become brand ambassador for AVL RACING. It marks the next step in a collaboration that has already been active for a few years, and which will see Tatiana make use of AVL RACING’s state-of-the-art simulator in Graz as well as an AVL trackside engineer to support her during the seven-round Super Formula season.
With pre-season testing having come to a close last week, Tatiana is in a buoyant mood as she seeks to get the second year of her Japanese adventure off to the best possible start.
Tatiana Calderón: “I’m really looking forward to the start of my second Super Formula season at Fuji. We have had a week to prepare after the last pre-season test at Fuji, and to get back to racing is always exciting. I’m grateful to my sponsors ROKiT, Maisy Kay, Bandero Tequila and the Colombian Ministry of Sport, for their continued support as we keep growing together. I’m also proud to announce that I’m now a brand ambassador for AVL RACING. I’ve been working with them for three years in their simulator in Austria, and they have supported us with some track assistance, so I think we are all moving in the right direction. I’m happy to have them on board and I can’t wait to be back at Fuji and for the lights to go out on Sunday!”
FUJI WEEKEND TIMETABLE
(All times GMT +9 and subject to change)
Saturday April 3
Free practice – 9:00am
Qualifying – 2:40pm
Sunday April 4
Free practice – 9:25am
Race (41 laps or 70 minutes) – 1:20pm
2021 SUPER FORMULA SCHEDULE
April 3-4, Fuji Speedway
April 24-25, Suzuka
May 15-16, Autopolis
June 19-20, Sugo
August 28-29, Motegi
October 2-3, Okayama
October 30-31, Suzuka
About ROKiT:
ROKiT is a people-first company, offering revolutionary mobile devices with vital life services at unbeatable prices, looking to connect the world. Innovation has been the key for the visionary founders Jonathan Kendrick and John-Paul DeJoria, who also been keen on promoting women in motorsport, raising awareness and empowering women by providing the right opportunities.
About Maisy Kay:
UK native and Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Maisy Kay has been honing her skills as a musician and vocalist since she was a young girl. At only 22 years of age, Maisy has written more than 200 songs and collaborated extensively with a host of producers including Peter Mokran, Captain Cuts (Elle Gouding), Adam Argyle and Martin Brammer (Olly Murs), among others. Her passion for racing has been inherited from her family, so the support for Tatiana emerged naturally and has become a joint activation where Tatiana has become a true fan of Maisy’s music too.
About Bandero Tequila:
Uses only the finest Blue Weber Agave, matured for six years in the red clay of Jalisco’s Los Altos Highlands. The roots gather copious amounts of minerals as they work to reach this region’s crystalline well waters below. The result is mouth-watering agave, lending way to a floral, sweet flavoured and creamy texture tequila.
Their quality is unique and has been recognised so again in 2020 Awards Testing Competition receiving the Double Gold, 2019 Gold R%F Awards, the Double Gold Medal at the Global Spirit Awards and the Innovation Award at the Sip Awards International Spirits Competition.
Its uniqueness is a match to what Tatiana is on the track. The first Latin American female to test a contemporary Formula 1 car and the only one to have raced through the current ladder to the pinnacle of racing, matches her status with the Bandero brand in her new venture in the Japanese Super Formula, where she races as the only ever to enter full-time competition in the most prestigious championship in the land of the rising sun.
About AVL RACING:
At AVL RACING, our support is not simply confined to engineering and simulations on testbeds. It also includes the trackside, where our AVL RACING engineers bring 30 years of experience to support testing and preparation for a successful race day. Our experts are seamlessly integrated into the motorsport team to provide the full range of services. Working with our Software AVL VSM ™️ RACE we can provide a picture of setup variations.
With our cloud solutions you could simulate up to 100.000 laps just between two practices.
For more information, please follow Tatiana on her social media:
Twitter: @Tatacalde
Instagram: Tatacalde7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tatacalde7/
For marketing matters please contact:
Paula Calderón Email: paulacalderon@tatianacalderon.com
Phone: +34 661 48 29 80
Photo Credit: ThreeBond Drago Corse