James Calado

James John Calado (born 13 June 1989) is a British professional racing driver from England, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He won the LMGTE Pro class of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also drives for Panasonic Jaguar Racing in Formula E. His career has been funded by the Racing Steps Foundation.[1]

James Calado
Nationality	British
Born	(1989-06-13) 13 June 1989 Cropthorne, United Kingdom
WEC career
Debut season	2014
Current team	AF Corse
Car number	51
Starts	47
Wins	6
Poles	3
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2017
Previous series
2012–2013 2011 2010 2009 2008–09 2008 2008 2008	GP2 Series GP3 Series British Formula 3 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 UK FR2.0 Portugal Winter Series FR2.0 UK Winter Series Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Championship titles
2017 2008 2008	GT World Endurance Championship FR2.0 Portugal Winter Series FR2.0 UK Winter Series

Career

Karting

Born in Cropthorne, Worcestershire, Calado had an extensive karting career, starting out at Cadets level in 1999. After being a member of the 2000 championship-winning England Inter-Nations Cadet Team, Calado won the British Cadet Championship in 2001, and also finished runner-up to Daniel Rowbottom in the Super 1 Cadet series, losing out by thirteen points. In 2002, Calado stepped up to TKM Juniors, finishing fifth in the Super 1 championship. 2003 saw Calado contest pan-European series for the first time, driving a Gillard Parilla kart for the PDB Racing Team in the ICA Junior class. He finished runner-up to Nicholas Risitano in the European Championship, beating future Formula One drivers Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari.

He moved to Tony Kart for the 2004 season, and once again finished in the top three of the European Championship; this time finishing third behind Stefano Coletti and Jules Bianchi. He also finished fifth in the Andrea Margutti Trophy, and ninth in the Italian Open Masters. He moved up to the ICA class in 2005, and won the European Championship ahead of his future team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne, and also finished runner-up to Armando Parente in the Italian Open Masters. He returned to the UK to contest the Renault Elite League in the Super Libre class, finishing seventh in the championship.

Calado moved into the top class of international karting in 2006, moving into the Formula A class. Sixth in the Italian Open Masters, Calado went to Macau for the International Kart Grand Prix, where he finished as runner-up to Michael Christensen. His final season of karting, in 2007, saw his fourth top-five placing in the European Championship, as well as a third-place finish in the Margutti Trophy. He also placed ninth in the South Garda Winter Cup.

Formula Renault

Calado competing during the 2008 Formula Renault UK season at Oulton Park

Calado moved into the British Formula Renault Championship for the 2008 season, driving for Fortec Motorsport.[2] With no prior single-seater experience, Calado was placed into the Graduate Cup for first-year drivers. Calado finished runner-up to Dean Stoneman in that championship, and he finished seventh in the overall championship. He took two pole positions at Snetterton and Oulton Park, with one victory coming at Snetterton from that pole. He also earned three other podium placings throughout the season. Calado also contested two rounds of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at Zolder and Spa-Francorchamps. He earned two top-five finishes en route to finishing 25th in the overall championship standings, amassing 38 points. At the conclusion of the season, Calado enter the Winter Series of both the British and Portuguese Formula Renault championships. Over the two championships' eight total races, Calado took five pole positions, six fastest laps and five victories en route to both championships; holding Henry Surtees off by just three points in the British Winter Series.[3]

Calado competing during the 2009 Formula Renault UK season at Oulton Park

Calado continued in the British series for the 2009 season, staying with Fortec for his sophomore campaign.[4] Calado and Alpine Motorsport's Stoneman, both in their second season and boasting victories in their début season in the series, with pre-season testing further backing media predictions that the championship would most likely be decided between the pair.[5] Calado was the most successful driver in the series, taking a total of eight victories, winning races at seven of the championship's ten meetings during the season. He also earned ten pole positions, and set the fastest lap of the race on seven occasions. However, retirements at Thruxton, Oulton Park and Croft took the title out of the hands of Calado and into the hands of Dean Smith, who joined the series at the second round of the championship. Calado ultimately finished as runner-up behind Smith, 34 points behind the Wolverhampton driver. Calado also contested three rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 for Fortec, competing in Barcelona, Spa and Le Mans. He finished seventeenth in the championship, amassing ten points from a fifth in Barcelona and seventh at Spa. He lost a podium finish at Barcelona due to a puncture with two laps remaining,[6] which could have ultimately turned into a win after the post-race disqualification of winner Albert Costa.[7]

Formula Three (2010)

Calado moved into the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2010 season, as part of a six-car title challenge by Carlin.[1] He was the second RSF-funded driver to drive for the team, after Oliver Turvey finished runner-up in the 2008 championship. He took five victories to finish second in the championship, behind runaway leader Jean-Éric Vergne.

GP3 Series (2011)

Calado moved up to the GP3 Series for 2011, driving for the Lotus ART team alongside Pedro Nunes, Richie Stanaway and Valtteri Bottas. In a successful season for ART, Bottas won the championship whilst Calado backed him up with second in the drivers' standings, taking a single win at Valencia and five further podium finishes. ART also won the teams' championship.

GP2 Series (2011-2013)

Calado winning the Belgium 2013 GP2 Grand Prix

Calado made his GP2 Series début by driving for ART in the non-championship race at Yas Marina which concluded the 2011 season. He had a victorious race in the sprint race, the second race of the weekend. He joined the Lotus-branded team full-time for the 2012 season, alongside second-year driver Esteban Gutiérrez.[8] He continued his form from the non-championship race by winning the sprint race of the first round of the season in Malaysia. After taking pole positions for the Spanish rounds at Catalunya and Valencia, but not being able to convert them into victories, he won his second race of the season at Hockenheim. At this stage of the championship, he was third in the drivers' standings, but a poor run in the final four races—after crashing in practice at Monza and suffering from food poisoning in Singapore saw him overhauled by team-mate Gutiérrez and compatriot Max Chilton. Nevertheless, his fifth place in the championship meant that he finished the season as the series' most successful rookie driver, ahead of Felipe Nasr in tenth position. Autosport magazine rated Calado as the GP2 season's best driver, due to his inexperience compared to the drivers who finished ahead of him in the championship.[9]

Lotus GP became ART once again for the 2013 season and he was joined by rookie Daniel Abt. A consistent season saw him claim two sprint race wins and another five podiums meant he finished third in the standings on 157 points but quite a distance behind the top two Fabio Leimer and Sam Bird.

Formula One

Force India (2013)

Partway through the 2013 season, Formula One team Force India selected him for the Young Driver's test in July, held at Silverstone.[10] He had a successful test, setting the fourth fastest time on the first day.[10] As a result of this, and his good GP2 form, Force India announced that they had selected Calado as their third driver for the Italian Grand Prix on 2 September 2013, and that he would run in the first practice session.[11]

Formula E

In June 2019, Calado partook in testing sessions with Panasonic Jaguar Racing.[12]

On 2 October 2019, it was announced that Calado would partner Mitch Evans in the Panasonic Jaguar team, replacing Alex Lynn.[13]

He made his debut with the team at the 2019 Diriyah ePrix, crashing during qualifying for the first race & finishing 16th. He struggled during qualifying the following day but showed excellent race pace & in a race of attrition stayed out of the carnage to record his first points in 7th. He continued his points-scoring form at the next race in Santiago, where he finished in 8th. He would have finished in 9th at the 2020 Mexico City ePrix, but was later disqualified for a technical issue. He lacked pace in Marrakesh despite qualifying well & dropped to 16th position.

FIA World Endurance Championship

AF Corse

Calado racing in the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone.

For 2014, Calado joined Italian Davide Rigon at AF Corse, making his debut at the 6 Hours of Silverstone where the pair finished in 5th position behind their teammates, Finn Toni Vilander and Italian Gianmaria Bruni. Calado and Rigon celebrated a podium in the second race of the season at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. For Calado it was his first podium in sportcars. For 2016 he joins Italian Gianmaria Bruni.

In 2017 is joined by Alessandro Pier Guidi and won the world championship. In 2019 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra behind the wheel of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Champioship

He made his debut in 2016 24 Hours of Daytona with the Ferrari 488 GTE of SMP Racing and take part in some selected races in following years, all with Risi Competizione. He won the 2016 and 2019 Petit Le Mans with the 488 GTE and scored podiums at 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2008	Formula Renault UK	Fortec Motorsport	20	1	2	0	4	292	7th
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		3	0	0	0	0	38	25th
	Formula Renault UK Winter Cup		4	2	3	4	3	116	1st
	Portuguese Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series		4	3	2	2	4	60	1st
2009	Formula Renault UK		20	8	10	7	12	457	2nd
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		6	0	0	1	0	10	17th
2010	British Formula 3 Championship	Carlin	30	5	2	4	12	293	2nd
2011	GP3 Series	Lotus ART	16	1	1	2	6	55	2nd
	GP2 Final		2	1	0	0	1	7	5th
2012	GP2 Series	Lotus GP	24	2	2	1	7	160	5th
2013	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	22	2	0	2	7	157	3rd
	Formula One	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Test driver
2014	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	8	0	0	0	5	94	7th
2015	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	8	0	1	0	5	123	4th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
	GT Asia Series	Clearwater Racing	3	0	0	0	1	36	25th
	European Le Mans Series - LMGTE	JMW Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	0	18th
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	9	1	1	1	7	128	3rd
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	SMP Racing	1	0	0	0	0	58	19th
		Risi Competizione	1	1	0	0	1
2017	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	9	3	0	0	7	153	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	11th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Kaspersky Motorsport	5	0	1	0	0	32	7th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Ferrari	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Risi Competizione	2	0	0	0	2	60	18th
2018	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Risi Competizione	2	0	0	1	0	52	17th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	7th
2018-19	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	8	2	0	0	3	136.5	2nd
	Asian Le Mans Series - GT	CarGuy Racing	4	4	1	0	4	101	1st
2019	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Risi Competizione	2	1	1	0	2	67	20th
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	AF Corse	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Ferrari	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2019-20	Formula E	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	9	0	0	0	0	10	19th
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	AF Corse	6	1	1	1	2	95	3rd*
2020	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	AF Corse	1	0	0	0	0	6	7th*
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Risi Competizione	1	0	0	0	0	25	12th*

^* Season still in progress.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2011	Lotus ART	IST FEA 27	IST SPR 13	CAT FEA 2	CAT SPR 21	VAL FEA 8	VAL SPR 1	SIL FEA 6	SIL SPR 5	NÜR FEA 4	NÜR SPR 6	HUN FEA 25	HUN SPR 3	SPA FEA 2	SPA SPR 2	MNZ FEA 2	MNZ SPR 14	2nd	55

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2012	Lotus GP	SEP FEA 8	SEP SPR 1	BHR1 FEA 5	BHR1 SPR 3	BHR2 FEA 16	BHR2 SPR 12	CAT FEA 2	CAT SPR 4	MON FEA 7	MON SPR Ret	VAL FEA 8	VAL SPR 2	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 20	HOC FEA 8	HOC SPR 1	HUN FEA 4	HUN SPR 6	SPA FEA 2	SPA SPR 3	MNZ FEA 12	MNZ SPR 14	MRN FEA Ret	MRN SPR 10	5th	160
2013	ART Grand Prix	SEP FEA 2	SEP SPR Ret	BHR FEA 12	BHR SPR 5	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 11	MON FEA 5	MON SPR 5	SIL FEA 9	SIL SPR 3	NÜR FEA 2	NÜR SPR 2	HUN FEA 9	HUN SPR 6	SPA FEA 8	SPA SPR 1	MNZ FEA 6	MNZ SPR 26	MRN FEA 3	MRN SPR 19	YMC FEA 6	YMC SPR 1			3rd	157

Complete Formula One participations

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2013	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India VJM06	Mercedes FO 108Z 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA TD	SIN	KOR TD	JPN	IND TD	ABU TD	USA	BRA TD	-	-

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2014	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	SIL 5	SPA 3	LMS WD	COA 7	FUJ 2	SHA 3	BHR 3	SÃO 3		7th	94
2015	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	SIL 3	SPA 7	LMS 2	NÜR 3	COA 3	FUJ 3	SHA 4	BHR 6		4th	123
2016	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	SIL 2	SPA Ret	LMS Ret	NÜR 1	MEX 2	COA 2	FUJ 3	SHA 3	BHR 2	3rd	128
2017	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	SIL 2	SPA 2	LMS 14	NÜR 1	MEX 6	COA 1	FUJ 1	SHA 3	BHR 2	1st	153
2018–19	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	SPA 15	LMS 4	SIL 1	FUJ 4	SHA 5	SEB 4	SPA 2	LMS 1		2nd	136.5
2019–20	AF Corse	LMGTE Pro	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	SIL 4	FUJ 4	SHA 1	BHR 4	COA 3	SPA 4	LMS	BHR		3rd*	95*

^* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	AF Corse	Davide Rigon Olivier Beretta	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	GTE Pro	332	21st	2nd
2016	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE	GTE Pro	179	DNF	DNF
2017	AF Corse	Michele Rugolo Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE	GTE Pro	312	46th	11th
2018	AF Corse	Daniel Serra Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Pro	339	22nd	7th
2019	AF Corse	Daniel Serra Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Pro	342	20th	1st

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2016	SMP Racing	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	DAY 10	SEB	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	LRP	ELK	VIR	COA		19th	58
	Risi Competizione														PET 1
2017	Risi Competizione	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	DAY 3	SEB 3	LBH	COA	WGL	MOS	LRP	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET	18th	60
2018	Risi Competizione	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	DAY 5	SEB 5	LBH	MDO	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET	17th	52
2019	Risi Competizione	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	DAY 2	SEB	LBH	MDO	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET 1	20th	67
2020	Risi Competizione	GTLM	Ferrari 488 GTE	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	DAY 6	DAY	SEB	ELK	VIR	ATL	MDO	CLT	PET	LGA	SEB	12th*	25*

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2019–20	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	Spark SRT05e	Jaguar I-Type 4	DIR 16	DIR 7	SCL 8	MEX DSQ	MRK 16	BER 15	BER 20	BER Ret	BER 17	BER	BER	19th	10

References

1. Anderson, Ben (14 October 2009). "Carlin signs Calado for British F3". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
2. "Calado targets strong show at Brands". racingsteps.co.uk. Racing Steps Foundation. 8 March 2008. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
3. "Calado charges to winter title No 2". racingsteps.co.uk. Racing Steps Foundation. 29 November 2008. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
4. "Reigning Champions Join Newcomer In Formula Renault UK". Renault Sport. British Formula Renault Championship. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
5. "Bucking the downturn". Autosport. Vol. 196 no. 1. 2 April 2009. pp. 106–107.
6. "Puncture deprives Calado of Eurocup win". racingsteps.co.uk. Racing Steps Foundation. 18 April 2009. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
7. "Albert Costa disqualified, Nathanaël Berthon is winner". renault-sport.com. Renault Sport. 19 April 2009. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
8. "Lotus ART complete 2012 line up". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
9. Arron, Simon (12 October 2011). "The top 10 GP2 drivers of 2012". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
10. Allen, James (17 July 2013). "Young Driver Test Day One: McLaren's Magnussen tops timesheets". James Allen on F1. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
11. Galloway, James; Esler, William (2 September 2013). "Rising British star James Calado joins Force India as third driver". Sky Sports. BSkyB. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
12. Smith, Sam (6 June 2019). "Calado Tests for Jaguar". e-racing365. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
13. Smith, Topher (2 October 2019). "Calado joins Evans at Panasonic Jaguar Racing". Downforce Radio. Retrieved 3 October 2019.

External links

• Official website
• James Calado career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Richard Singleton	Formula Renault UK Winter Cup Champion 2008	Succeeded by Harry Tincknell
Preceded by Inaugural	Formula Renault Portugal Winter Series Champion 2008	Succeeded by None (Series ended)
Preceded by Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen	World Endurance GT Drivers' Championship Champion 2017 With: Alessandro Pier Guidi	Succeeded by Michael Christensen Kevin Estre
Preceded by Jesse Krohn Jun-San Chen	Asian Le Mans Series GT Champion 2018–19 With: Kei Cozzolino & Takeshi Kimura	Succeeded by Marcos Gomes