Calan has claimed an incredible P2 result with co-drivers Niklas Krutten and JB Simmineaur on his debut in the biggest GT race in the world, the 24 hours of Spa at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
Within the regulations, for a 24-hour race, cars other than those in the Pro class can use 4 drivers. Most of the Bronze and Silver categories did this, along with just two of the Gold class. Calan’s car as with the majority of Gold had the 3 drivers.
With mixed weather conditions this would make for a very interesting mix to the starting positions for the huge 70 car field.
To allow for the 4 drivers, qualifying had 4 sessions of which the average time determined the grid position. Q1 only included the 4th drivers, so all 3 driver teams commenced from Q2.
Weather was fine for Q1, but then torrential rain came down for the remaining sessions which were also in darkness! This made for very strange grid positions with most Bronze and Silver cars gaining through having a dry track lap time included in their average.
Calan did a great job in complete darkness and a huge downpour, as did Niklas and JB with them eventually qualifying P5 in class and P45 overall.
On race day, Niklas got the car away to a very good start in the hectic field of 70 and moved the car up to P32 and P4 in Gold class and then JB progressed this to P18 and P2 in Gold.
Driving through the night in damp conditions, Calan then had the challenge to compete his entire 2-hour stint without exceeding track limits on a single occasion. The car had 5 warnings and a 6th would mean a costly 30 sec penalty. These were reset each 6 hours, so to reach that point without penalty was critical.
Calan achieved this, and in the process moved the car up to P1 in Gold.
With strong drives from all 3, the team would survive the night without incident. Sadly the same could not be said for WRT car 32 which was the very unfortunate victim of a large accident instigated by confusion following a race control call.
The next day thankfully was clear and during an impressive early morning daylight stint, Calan would progress the car up to P5 overall and P1 in Gold.
Handing the car over to Niklas Krutten, they would then experience a little misfortune in immediately after a Safety Car intervention allow others to pit under those condition which erased the lead of over a minute which they had earned in the Gold class.
At the completion of the entire 24 hour race, a finishing position of P2 in class and P14 overall in a field of 21 Pro cars is an outstanding effort and result for Calan and team in the world’s biggest GT race.
“The weekend started off quite tricky, but in the race, we maximised the result we could achieve. We stayed strong, did no mistakes, kept pushing and were consistent. Eventually, it paid off, and we got good points for the championship,” said Calan.
"Racing in the 24 hours of Spa was an amazing experience and the race itself is such a test of endurance, managing the car, yourself and with no opportunity to rest over a long period of time".
"Just to finish a race like this over 24 hours is a huge achievement, let alone to come away with a result like this."
"I'm really happy with the result and the way that the team and everyone performed over the weekend. We did everything we could and maximised our opportunities throughout the race."
