Meet the Athlete: Tatiana Calderón

I was always passionate about sports, so I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a professional athlete. I had to choose between tennis, soccer, and motorsport.

I started racing when I was nine years old, thanks to my sister Paula. She took me to a rental go-kart track near our home in Colombia, and we both fell in love with speed and adrenaline!

I was incredibly passionate and happy every time we went to the race track. None of my family members had raced before, so we had to learn everything from scratch. I won several karting championships in Colombia before moving to the U.S., where I won the Stars of Karting East Coast Championship in the JICA category. I soon aimed to transition to single-seaters, starting in the U.S. before moving to Europe to pursue my dream of reaching F1. I’ve had the opportunity to compete in F3, F2, Super Formula, IndyCar, WEC, and ELMS, and even served as a test driver in F1. Currently, I’m racing in IMSA in the GTD class.

As a woman in a male-dominated sport, it hasn’t been easy to earn respect both on and off the track. Finding sponsors and visibility has been tough, and there’s also the challenge of adapting racing ergonomics and training specifically for women. There’s a common misconception that men and women are the same in this sport, but we are different in many ways. Since there have been so few women in racing, we don’t have enough data to fully understand what works best for us, which has been a significant challenge.

This year, we have a new car—driving the Ford Mustang GT3. It’s an exciting challenge to get to grips with this new machine, and I love challenges. I’m also thrilled to be racing in the U.S. and visiting the amazing tracks there!

I love sports in general, so I enjoy playing tennis, water skiing, and grabbing a good cup of coffee.

Pizza.

I’ll be racing in the historic F1 race at Paul Ricard at the end of April, and my next IMSA race will be June 22nd at Watkins Glen.