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TATIANA TO END THE WEEKEND AT SPA ON A HIGH NOTE AFTER LEADING SEVERAL LAPS

Going into the race weekend, Tatiana looked forward to proving herself, as Spa is one of her most favored circuits. Tatiana was eager to surpass her fantastic result from last season where she finished 5th.


Friday’s qualifying sessions proved to be difficult for Calderon. The first round, Tatiana was unable to lay down a solid lap time to put her in an ideal position for Race 1. She came out with a starting position of P20. Luck was also not on Tatiana’s side for the second round of qualifying as her car was not able to start once on the grid. Her team worked effortlessly to get her car running. Tatiana was able to get only two laps under a green flag and found herself starting P30 for Race 2.

Saturday was a new day for Calderon as she was determined to gain as many positions as she could. Unfortunately starting P20 was not the most ideal place to be in a field of 35 drivers. Tatiana had a good run until she was forced to avoid an accident, taking a detour off the track. She finished the race in P25.

Race 2 was yet again difficult for the young Columbian. Another unavoidable accident occurred when she was hit from behind by Lance Stroll, causing her to spin and damage her front nose. She was able to come into the pits to replace her nose and continue on her hunt through the field. The race ended under a yellow flag after her teammate, Gustavo Menezes, had a horrifying crash. Tatiana found herself sitting in P25 for the end of Race 2.

Sunday was a new day for Tatiana and ended up proving to be much more positive than the days before. Calderon started the race in P28. With unpredictable weather conditions, Tatiana and her Carlin team made the decision to go out on wet tires, hoping that the incoming rain would soon make it to the track. Tatiana had a strong first lap as she quickly moved up 14 positions leaving her in P14 going into lap 2. Tatiana’s strong pace pushed her to fifth place by the end of lap 2 and leading by the third lap. While leading Tatiana battled with the top drivers in the series and proved to be a threat. Unfortunately, the predicted wet weather never moved to the track and Tatiana was forced to pit and change to slicks. She ended the race in a solid P18.

Tatiana:

“It was a tough weekend with ups and downs. It didn’t start off well when we had a mechanical issue in Q2 which prevented us from turning laps in and from there on we had two very difficult races where I was involved in two incidents. But taking the positives, I am glad we were able to take the lead in race three after starting P28. We had nothing to lose so we went for a strategy and I really enjoyed the race and had some great battles out on track. I am now very much looking forward to race again next weekend and hopefully start where we left off in race three.”

All in all, Tatiana comes out of the weekend with positive results along with being the first female to lead a Formula 3 race in the European Championship. She managed to not only prove to herself, but also to her fellow competitors that she is capable of battling in the front of the field with the top drivers. This weekend has put Tatiana in a stable mindset for the next race at Norisring on June 26th-28th which will also coincide with the DTM race.


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