"We just tried to survive until the end and get the experience" - despite enduring a challenging 12 Hours of Sebring, Tatiana Calderón fought hard to bring the #66 Ford Mustang GT3 home in P13, securing their first finish of the season and valuable mileage for the program’s development.
Tatiana Calderón and her Gradient Racing teammates endured a challenging second round of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup season but fought through adversities to complete the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in P13, recording their first finish of the season.
Calderón, returning to IMSA for her second season after making her GTD debut in 2024, teamed up with Till Bechtolsheimer and Joey Hand at the wheel of the #66 Ford Mustang GT3—a new platform for the Gradient Racing team, which switched from the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to the Ford machine ahead of the 2025 season. The team's adaptation to the new car began at the season opener, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where the drivers worked to build speed throughout the week.
It was a promising yet frustrating start for Gradient Racing, showing encouraging pace but suffering persistent clutch issues that resulted in an early retirement for the #66 crew.
For the second round in Florida, Calderón and her teammates aimed to build on those foundations. However, the 12 Hours of Sebring—a notoriously demanding track for both drivers and machines—proved to be another tough test. Early race contacts caused damage that hampered the rest of their race, while the car struggled for outright pace despite a solid effort from all three drivers.
The Gradient Racing trio made encouraging progress in testing, and Till Bechtolsheimer set a 2:02.435 in qualifying, placing 18th fastest in a solid run for the bronze-rated driver.
On Saturday morning, under warm conditions at Sebring, the race got underway. Bechtolsheimer made a strong start, gaining two places on the opening lap to move into P16.
Just two laps in, the first Full Course Yellow was triggered following an incident between the #88 AF Corse LMP2 Oreca of Pérez Companc and the #18 Era Motorsport LMP2 of Lutke, both sustaining damage but making it back to the pits.
Bechtolsheimer settled into a good rhythm, running P16 with consistent 2:04.0 lap times, holding position ahead of several bronze-rated drivers. Unfortunately, he got caught in traffic and made contact with the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports LMP2 car, which spun, resulting in a drive-through penalty for the #66 Mustang.
At the one-hour mark, the #023 Triarsi Ferrari of Charlie Scardina was put into the wall by the #10 WTR Cadillac, suffering a heavy impact that required barrier repairs. Scardina was unhurt, but the #023 Ferrari was out of the race. The second FCY was deployed.
Bechtolsheimer served his penalty and rejoined in P16, later pitting under caution and cycling up to P15. He continued to make progress, reaching P12 on the restart, but another caution was soon triggered when the #18 Era Motorsport LMP2 Oreca of Tobi Lutke crashed at Sunset Bend.
On the next restart, Bechtolsheimer dropped to P14, holding his own among the bronze drivers. However, another series of cautions followed after separate LMP2 incidents, including the AO Racing Oreca hitting the barriers at Turn 1.
With Joey Hand taking over driving duties, the team managed to pass the Lone Star Racing Mercedes after Dan Knox hit trouble and spun. Hand moved into P17 and closed in on Graham Doyle's Lamborghini before bringing the Gradient Racing Mustang into the pits for its third scheduled stop.
Tatiana Calderón took over the car three hours into the race, rejoining in P16. She ran consistently in P17, engaged in a close battle with the #45 WTR Lamborghini of Danny Formal, with both drivers trading positions.
At the four-hour mark, Calderón pitted from P18, staying in the car. On fresh tyres, she set a solid 2:03.8, before a Full Course Yellow was called with 7 hours and 40 minutes to go when the #40 Cadillac crashed at the final corner. Calderón, running P18, was unfortunately unable to get a lap back.
As the race resumed, she climbed to P17, ahead of Van Der Steur, and gained further ground. She later passed the #45 WTR Lamborghini for P16.
With 6 hours and 30 minutes to go, Calderón completed a two and a half hour stint and brought the #66 Mustang into the pits from P15, handing driving duties back to Bechtolsheimer, who returned to the track approximately 30 seconds behind the next car.
At the halfway mark, the team received a 100-second stop-and-go penalty for a stint energy requirement violation, further setting them back.
Joey Hand took over from Bechtolsheimer and remained behind the wheel during the next pit cycles. By the four-hour mark, the Gradient Racing Mustang was running 15th, three laps down, struggling for pace across all stints.
Tatiana Calderón returned to the car for her second stint on lap 231. On new tyres, she found better pace, consistently running in the mid-2:03s and overall matching Hand's pace.
A FCY was deployed after Casper Stevenson spun at the final corner. When the pit lane opened for GTD entries, Calderón stayed out and gained back one lap. However, the race went green for only a few minutes before Matias Pérez Companc crashed the #88 AF Corse LMP2 Oreca, bringing out another caution.
As the sun set over Sebring, Calderón had a strong restart, setting some of her best laps of the race in 2:02s. Now up to P13, she remained around 30 seconds behind the #45 Lamborghini, both still three laps down. She continued to show improved pace during her final double stint before handing the car back to Joey Hand for the closing hours.
In the final stages, Hand picked up positions as the #45 WTR Lamborghini and #021 Triarsi Ferrari encountered issues, moving the Gradient Racing Mustang up to P13 with one hour remaining.
A Full Course Yellow with 45 minutes to go was triggered when the #80 Lone Star Mercedes suffered a puncture, losing its entire tyre carcass on the back straight.
At the restart with 31 minutes to go, Hand held P13 and defended against Trent Hindman for position, gradually pulling away by a few tenths per lap.
In the final 10 minutes, Hand continued to run under the 2:03 mark, maintaining a comfortable gap. After 12 hours of racing, Joey Hand brought the #66 Gradient Racing Mustang across the line in P13, successfully holding off a late charge from the WTR Lamborghini.
It was a challenging race for the crew, battling early contact damage and an overall lack of pace, but they fought hard and collected valuable mileage as the program continued to develop with its new car.
“Starting with the positives, we finished the race, all the crew did an amazing job in the pit stops and we didn’t lose anything there", Tatiana commented. "We are still investigating the cause, but we didn’t have any pace since the beginning of the race. Strangely, the car felt very different to what we had in testing."
"We just tried to survive until the end and get the experience", she continued. "We also had some penalties, but ultimately we just didn’t have the pace. I want to thank the team and my teammates Joey and Till for their hard work. We’ll have to take a closer look at what went wrong to make sure we come back stronger at Watkins Glen.”
Now, the team will analyze the data, address the issues, and aim to return stronger at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the next round of the IMSA Endurance Cup, on June 22.
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