Calderon to start 12 IndyCar races in new third entry for Foyt

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AJ Foyt Racing will expand to a third car for the 2022 IndyCar season and field former Sauber test driver Tatiana Calderon at 12 of this year’s races.

Calderon will join full-time drivers Dalton Kellet and fellow rookie Kyle Kirkwood. The cars driven by Kirkwood and Calderon will be sponsored by technology brand Rokit.

The third Foyt entry will be driven by Calderon at the 12 road and street events on this year’s calendar. No AJ Foyt Racing driver has yet been announced for the five oval races, including the Indianapolis 500.

“Ever since I started my single seater career in the United States 11 years ago IndyCar has been a reference for me and it’s a dream come true to be on the grid this year,” said Calderon, who tested for the team at Mid-Ohio last July.

“I can’t wait to get to St. Petersburg for the first race of the season. I’m well aware of the challenge ahead, but this is the chance of a lifetime and I’m keen on making the most of it.”

Calderon won a series of karting championships in her native Colombia then made her debut in single-seater racing in the USA in 2011. The following year she began racing in Europe and four years later she finished runner-up to Pietro Fittipaldi in the Indian MRF Challenge series.

From there Calderon moved into GP3 (now FIA Formula 3) where she raced for three seasons before stepping up to Formula 2, becoming the first woman to race in the category. However her team mate at Arden, Anthoine Hubert, was killed in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps that year, and after completing the season Calderon did not return to F2.

In 2020 Calderon moved into sports car racing and as well as contesting several rounds of the Japanese Super Formula series with Drago, where she remained last year.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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6 comments on “Calderon to start 12 IndyCar races in new third entry for Foyt”

  1. While getting female drivers into top-level seat might be good for young female hopefuls, it may be bad when given without big merits – and I don’t think Calderon’s CV deserves IndyCar drive.

    When Giovanna Amati was in F1 30 years ago she didn’t qualify in any of her three attempts. Well, the car obviously wasn’t good and even Damon Hill struggled to do so when he was drafted in to replace Amati. But when noting that Amati had qualified just 14 of her 31 F3000 attempts and didn’t score a point in that series, it was clear she should not have been in the seat at all.

    When some female hopeful is looking for sponsorship, she may be shown Amati’s results and how that shows female drivers are nowhere near male. Which is obviously not true when comparing some other cases.

    1. Agreed. Certainly there are more qualified women available if that is the goal, but as in so many racing series money is king.

    2. She can’t be worse than Dalton Kellet… I hope

      1. @pastaman

        She’s better than Kellet. I think the Foyt team is in for another very tough season. They’re going to have by far the most inexperienced driver lineup with another rookie in Kirkwood and second year driver Kellet. I expect both Kirkwood and Calderon to be finishing ahead of Kellet consistently by the second half of the season.

    3. I agree that there are no female drivers that have demonstrated ability to warrant an Indycar drive, let alone an F1 drive. When some female hopeful is looking for sponsorship though I would hope she would be judged for her ability and marketability alone just as a male counterpart would be. Judging a driver by the past performance of others of the same sex is ridiculous. Could perhaps the reason that no female drivers have been able to succeed at the top levels is that there are far fewer of them than men to begin with and that they would face tremendous discrimination from the beginning of their careers? If there is one female driver for every 100 male it is improbable that one will reach the top, not even considering the effects of discrimination. This is a similar reason as why there has only been one successful black driver in the top levels.

  2. I suspect she will finish near Jimmy Johnson in the season standings. So far we’ve seen nothing to suggest she is anything more than a mid-field F3 driver at best. I bet she’s stoked to be racing against Montoya at the Indy road course.

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