The Colombian pilot Tatiana Calderón had her best performance this year in the European F3 Open, scoring points for the second time this season thanks to a ninth place earned last Sunday at Spa Francorchamps.
Tatiana continued to show steady improvements in her first year in European racing, making her best clasification of the year on Saturday with a fourth place in the starting order, which unfortunately wasn’t enough in the end due to an incident in the last lap that relegated her to 14th place.
On Sunday, after a complicated qualifier, Tatiana rallied from 12th place to 9th in a race affected by progressive climate changes. Hence the race was neutralized after multiple incidents and heavy rain which made conditions difficult on the 7 kilometers of the rapid Belgian layout.
Tatiana says: “Although the results easily could have been better looking at the speed we had, I think I can draw a number of positive things from this weekend. It was great having a very good qualifier, with a 4th place on Saturday and then having been nearer to the top in competition.
“We were able to get back on track last Sunday in a race that turned out to be shorter than expected due to neutralization at the end. It was hard because we were racing under heavy rain with tires for dry floor. We’re not at the level we want yet, but I feel that this weekend we took several steps toward that goal.
Summary Official practices – Friday: With good weather and on a dry track two free practice sessions took place in which Tatiana completed 11 and 12 full laps respectively. In the first session she ranked seventh, while in te second session she would end up sixth; the best among the Emilio De Villota Motorsports team drivers.
Race 1 – Saturday: Tatiana continued to improve during the morning of Saturday, making her best qualifier so far this season with a remarkable fourth place. Compared to her best practice time, Tatiana and her teammate Grenhagen Mans, who took pole, were those who lowered their times most from Friday.
In the race, starting from the “dirty” lane of the track, Tatiana lost traction and positions before reaching the first turn, remaining however in the top group, from which Grenhagen and his main rival, the Canadian Gianmarco Raimondo, then took off. A subsequent neutralization erased the differences when Tatiana was rolling seventh.
After falling to eighth place and attempting a maneuver to retrieve seventh, Tatiana battled the position with the Italian Kevin Giovesi in the last lap, a duel that ended in contact between the two cars that would relegate her to 14th place as she crossed the finish line.
Race 2 – Sunday: After a good qualifying race on Saturday, Tatiana could not repeat said results in the qualifier to set the starting order on Sunday, hence she was ranked 12.
In the race initially Tatiana managed to maintain her position and also tried to advance some positions, making progress in order to enter the top 10 group, who are awarded points at each date. With good overtaking, Tatiana was placed ninth at the time when a light rain appeared starting the second half of the race scheduled for 12 laps.
Just 4 laps into the race several incidents were caused by the intense rainfall, while the pilots tried to keep dry surface tires at operating temperature on a track becoming wetter by the minute. This forced the neutralization of the race, which lasted until the cars saw the checkered flag. Tatiana was ranked in ninth place, her best result so far this season.
Met six races of the championship, Tatiana is ranked 13th in the overall standings with 3 points. Her teammate Grenhagen Mans’s victory on Sunday brought the Emilio de Villota Motorsport team to the top of the ranking.
For more information visit the following links: http://www.f3open.net/ http://www.emiliodevillota.org/pages/motorsport http://www.tatianacalderon.com Twitter: @TataCalde
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