TATIANA REVVED UP FOR RETURN TO IMSA ACTION AT ‘THE GLEN’

After a long break since her last race at Sebring in March, Tatiana will be back in the cockpit of the No. 66 Ford Mustang GT3 as she rejoins Gradient Racing teammates Till Bechtolsheimer and Joey Hand for the first six-hour race on this year’s schedule. 

It marks the talented Colombian driver’s second trip to the picturesque 3.45-mile track located in upstate New York, and which used to host Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix, after her debut last year with Gradient at the wheel of an Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. 

Tatiana and the Gradient team arrive at Watkins Glen off the back of a challenging Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, where she and her two co-drivers finished 13th in the ultra-competitive GT Daytona (GTD) class after early setbacks and a general lack of pace. However, since then, Gradient has gained further understanding of the Mustang GT3 in IMSA sprint races at Long Beach and Laguna Seca, scoring a top-10 finish at the former.

This, combined with Tatiana’s usual rigorous preparation and a visit to the Ford Performance simulator in Concord, North Carolina, gives her confidence of a much more positive showing this time out as she gets set to tackle the fast, flowing curves of ‘The Glen’. 

Tatiana Calderón: “It feels like such a long time since the last race at Sebring, so I’m excited to get back in the car. I am interested to see how the car has changed because the team has had a few sprint races and they have tried some different things to improve the pace and learn more about the car. Watkins Glen is a super-fast track and we’ll have to see how the Balance of Performance is and the feeling of the car. I haven’t been in a racing car since Sebring, so practice will be super-important for me to get back into the rhythm. It’s going to be super-hot, like it was last year, so it will be a tough physical challenge. I really enjoyed my first race at Watkins Glen last year in the Acura, and I am sure we’ll have a good baseline. I will also do a day in the simulator with Ford Performance in the run-up to race week, so hopefully we will have a better feeling with the car than we had in Sebring. I can’t wait to be reunited with the team and tackle this six-hour race together with Till and Joey.”

 WATKINS GLEN WEEKEND SCHEDULE

All times local (US Eastern) and subject to change 

Friday June 20

Practice 1 - 11:25am 

Saturday June 21

Practice 2 - 9:00amQualifying - 2:20pm 

Sunday June 22

Race - 12:10pm