Going into the second half of the FIA WEC season, Britain’s James Calado is in a very nice position indeed. He’s in his second year as a Ferrari works driver, has podiums at Silverstone and Le Mans under his belt and there’s just a four-point gap between himself and Davide Rigon in the #71 car and the vastly experienced crew of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander in the #51.
It’s already a step up from his 2014 campaign, which was unsettled by crash at Le Mans that prevented him competing in the race. “Compared to last year, it’s a huge difference, in myself as well as everything else,” he told DSC after qualifying at the Nurburgring on Saturday.
“It took me longer than I thought to adapt last year, but now I feel really comfortable in the 458. We’ve now got a base setup suited to mine and Davide’s driving style that we can work on fine-tuning. It’s also about getting even more experience in traffic and deepening my understanding of how a GT car works. It feels like I’m almost 90% of the way there now. We had a good Le Mans, but it’s still early in the season, of course, so there are still a lot of points on the table.”
In Calado, Rigon, Vilander and Bruni, the AF Corse squad has found a very strong quartet of drivers for its WEC campaign, borne out by their one-two position in the standings post-Le Mans. “What’s really good is that we’re all very strong drivers – we’re as good as each other and we push each other and at the end of the day that helps Ferrari.”
And when you’re driving for the Prancing Horse, manufacturer titles are everything – something the drivers of both 458s will no doubt have in mind as they charge towards the first corner on Sunday afternoon. “It’s really important for Ferrari,” says Calado, “especially as this is the last year of the 458 – it would be a good send-off. Even so, we race each other hard until we get orders not to. That’s really exciting and what makes GT racing so great.”
Calado is bullish about his car’s and the team overall’s prospects for the remainder of the season beyond the Nurburgring. “We got a second in Fuji last year, after going there thinking we’d be at a disadvantage, so that’s a good one for us,” he explains. “I know all the tracks really well, so I don’t see why we can’t repeat our ‘at the front’ results in all the other races. I’m most looking forward to Fuji – it’s a nice track for me and my style of driving with all those high-speed corners.”
In addition to his WEC commitments, Calado is also contesting GT Asia races with the Clearwater Racing squad, and will be flying out to Malaysia for the forthcoming three-hour race there almost as soon as he returns to the UK from Germany. “It should be good fun, the GT3 is quite different.” he asserts. “Ferrari uses us to do a lot of things: developing the road cars, racing for the GT3 customer teams, simulator work and so on. It’s all one big family and it’s very nice to be involved in it.”
So will Calado be at the wheel of a new 488 next year? The simple answer is he hopes so.
“I’m just concentrating on this year at the moment,” he says. “Only Gimmi has been confirmed so far and it’s too early in the season for us to discuss anything really. It’s looking good, though, and I feel within myself that me, [AF Corse boss] Amato Ferrari and the company have a good relationship. We all work really well together, especially me and Davide – we have a similar driving style and are same height and weight, so it’s ideal.”
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