Teen driver makes debut

Before Tatiana Calderon had her driver's license she was racing go-karts and winning international championships.

Last week, days before the start of the 58 annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring race, she turned 17 years old. Despite being the youngest member of Juncos Racing team the soft-spoken teen from Bogota, Columbia, is a pro at competitive racing.

"In the beginning it was very hard because guys don't like it when girls beat them, but with time they knew I was good enough... now they have more respect for me," Calderon said.

Calderon started go-kart racing when she was 11. She and her sister would go to a rental go-kart track at night to practice. Calderon said she just knew the sport was for her.

"I love everything about it...I knew it was a sport I wanted to be successful in," Calderon said.

Calderon joked that her 14-year-old brother pursued tennis to avoid competing with his two sisters.

"He calls racing a girls sport," Calderon giggled.

Go-kart racing allowed her to develop her skills for more advanced cars like the prototype race car she drove in the Radical European Master Series in 2009 where she came in second place.

So far, the Star Mazda Series race car she is driving at the 12 Hours of Sebring is her favorite because it resembles the Formula One car the most.

She joined Juncos in 2005 and moved up from go-kart racing to the Star Mazda race. Juncos, a Vero Beach racing school, helped Calderon develop her skills from go-kart racing to open wheel Formula cars.

In Friday's Star Mazda Series race, the first of 13 races for Calderon with Juncos this year, she placed 20th out of 22 drivers. But her team sees the potential in the young driver. In her practice race on Wednesday she came in 11th place.

For the teen who wants to race her whole life it's the start of a professional career in race car driving.

"I am very impressed with the way Tatiana has grown in the last few years and how her driving, skills and performance qualities are getting better and better," said Ricardo Juncos, Juncos Racing team owner.

Of her most significant achievements she made history as the first female to win the Snap-On Stars of Karting Divisional Championship in 2008.

In 2008 she was the IAME International champion and in 2009 she was second in the Colombian Rotax Senior Max Challenge.

"It's a sport where women can compete against men because you don't have to be physically strong but mentally strong," Calderon said.

Calderon describes herself as a disciplined student and has organized her time to maintain her grades at her school in Columbia and travel to races in the U.S. Her training is limited to once a month but that's set to change when she gets her own car. She's looking for her own Formula 2000 car to practice with at home.

Her team said she has shown improvement even though she was not able to complete her session on Wednesday she shows promise that she will make the top ten in her rookie race.

"When we tested her in the Star Mazda car, I found that not only were her performance and attitude while driving the car fantastic, but also her interpretation and feeling for the race car," Juncos said.

Now that Calderon has made a name for herself within the community she hopes more girls join.

"It is really a sport where boys and girls can compete against each other...and we can show them we can be really aggressive and competitive in a car," Calderon said.