Tatiana Calderón’s debut aboard the Ford Mustang GT3 in last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona came to an unfortunate early end for Gradient Racing after showing strong pace early on.
The talented 31-year-old Colombian driver made her return to the world-famous Daytona International Speedway as she tackled the opening round of her five-round IMSA Michelin Cup campaign at the wheel of Gradient’s brand-new No. 66 Ford Mustang GT3 together with her teammates Joey Hand, Till Bechtolsheimer and Harry Tincknell.
But a promising run for the team in its first race with the new machine was cut short by terminal clutch problems, around 15 hours into the twice-around-the-clock enduro.
Preparations for the Rolex 24 began in earnest with the three-day Roar Before the 24 test, which afforded Tatiana and the rest of the Gradient Racing team a valuable opportunity to get better acquainted with the new Mustang GT3 – an altogether very different package from the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 that the team used in the 2024 season.
Bechtolsheimer qualified the No. 66 car 17th out of 22 cars in the ultra-competitive GT Daytona (GTD) class, and 54th overall, during Thursday’s qualifying session. But the Gradient Mustang showed its pace come the opening part of the race on Saturday, as the No. 66 car quickly recovered from an early refueling issue that put the team a lap down.
Tatiana climbed aboard the car for the first time just before 9pm, with 7 hours and 19 minutes of the race elapsed, and stayed on board for a single 34-lap stint, consolidating a top-ten spot in the order while running on the lead lap and on the same sequence as the class leaders. But, having reported problems with the clutch, a long nine-minute pitstop for the team to try and address the issue dropped the No. 66 car four laps off the class lead.
The team continued to fight hard despite this setback, with Tatiana taking over the No. 66 car for a second time at the 11-hour mark. This time she performed a double stint, staying in the car for 71 laps, but the clutch problems continued to take their toll on the car’s performance.
In the end, the Gradient Racing team was forced to throw in the towel at around 4.30am, marking a bitterly disappointing end to a first race weekend that showed plenty of promise.
The pace of the Ford Mustang, which is only in its second year of development, was proved during the early portion of the race as the No. 66 Gradient Racing entry held the fastest lap of the race for most of the first daylight portion of the race.
Tatiana Calderón: “It was a frustrating end to a very promising first race with the Ford Mustang GT3. Unfortunately we had to retire the car as we were struggling after sundown with the clutch every time we were stopping in the box, to the point that it started slipping out of the corners and it was too hard to stay on track. It’s a shame for all the guys and girls that worked really hard for the last two weeks to give us a competitive car. That’s the hard part about racing. I had some difficult stints, as the first time I jumped in the car was 9pm and I had to learn the car and deal with the first signs of problems with the car, but I think it was valuable track time for me to get the experience of driving the Mustang in the different conditions. Those second stints on the tires were very challenging and I think will help us understand what we need to improve for Sebring. I want to thank the team and my teammates. It's been a pleasure being part of this team.” Tatiana’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup campaign continues with the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring on March 15.
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