Tatiana Calderón will take on the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway as she continues her NTT IndyCar Series campaign with AJ Foyt Racing this weekend.
The Colombian will be making her first-ever visit to America’s most famous racetrack for her fourth of 12 planned outings this year at the wheel of her No. 11 ROKiT-backed Dallara-Chevrolet, and her second on a permanent road course.
Indianapolis is a venue that needs no introduction to fans of American motorsport, with the Indy 500 – first held in 1911 – making up part of Motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’ along with the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours. Team founder AJ Foyt is a four-time winner of the 500, one of many iconic drivers who made their careers at the Speedway.
The 2.439-mile layout on which the 85-lap GMR Grand Prix takes place incorporates the first two banked turns on the famed Indianapolis oval, with the rest of the track comprising a sequence of slow and medium-speed corners in the infield. Formula 1 held its United States Grand Prix on this track between 2000 and 2007.
After a challenging first IndyCar race on a road course last time out at Barber Motorsports Park, Tatiana will be looking to apply the lessons she learned there in order to enjoy a more competitive showing this time around and give the AJ Foyt Racing squad a boost as it enters the busiest period of the calendar, culminating in the Indianapolis 500 later in the month.
Tatiana Calderón: “To race at Indianapolis during the month of May I think is going to be something very special, especially because it’s my first time at the track. We expect it to be another challenging weekend. We’ve been analysing our performance at Barber and we know we need to find a way to generate more temperature in the tyres, so we will try to address those issues at a very different type of track, more slow-speed and technical. The team has a lot of ideas to try, so there’s a lot of work to do, but I’m really looking forward to jumping back in the car and kick-starting an exciting month at Indianapolis for the team.”
INDIANAPOLIS WEEKEND SCHEDULE
(All times GMT -4 and subject to change)
Friday May 13
Practice 1 – 09:30
Practice 2 – 12:45
Qualifying – 16:00
Saturday May 14
Warm-up – 10:30
Race (85 laps) – 15:20