Corvette’s Varrone Hits Out at “Dirty Driver” Calado

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driver Nico Varrone has labeled James Calado a “dirty driver” for forcing him off-track during their battle for position in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in an incident that effectively marked the end of the GM marque’s challenge for GTD Pro victory.

Varrone made the remarks after finishing fourth in class aboard the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the opening round of the new IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season alongside co-drivers Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg.

That followed an off-track moment for Varrone after the final restart with just over two hours to go, when he attempted to pass Calado’s No. o33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo for second around the outside at Turn 5, only to be forced off the road.

Calado, who was penalized for the incident, had stayed out on the previous caution and had been running second as a result, while Varrone was just ahead of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO that went on to win the GTD Pro class.

“I think we did a great race,” Varrone told Sportscar365. “We had a really good car the whole week, we prepared well with Tyler [Neff, race engineer], with Nicky, with Tommy.

“And I think we did a fantastic job the whole race.

“It’s just a shame that because of a dirty driver, who got all the penalties possible in this race, it’s ruined like that in the last few hours. It was not necessary.

“I was completely side-by-side, and he just completely pushed me off and put me on the grass. I think everybody knows in the paddock knows who he is as a driver.

“I just feel sorry for the team because we had a great car and we executed perfectly. The No. 4 Corvette was flying. Now we have to recover and rebuild for Sebring.”

Pressed on whether he felt Calado’s move cost Corvette a potential class victory, Varrone replied: “We had a car to fight at the end.

“Whether you win or not depends on circumstances in the end, but we had a car for at least the top three. That’s why it hurts a bit more.”

Despite the sting of losing a shot at Rolex 24 honors, Varrone added that he could still take a small degree of comfort in helping get the full-season WeatherTech Championship title bid for his co-drivers Catsburg and Milner off to a good start.

“For Sebring we will do the same preparation, do our best and try and maximize everything,” said Varrone, who will return to the No. 4 car for both the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans amid a shift in focus to Formula 2 this season.

“Today was not so bad because we were second in the points [of the full-season GTD cars] but it still hurts to not be there fighting at the end.”

Corvette Racing’s No. 3 car of Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhoefer was ruled out of a chance at victory when Garcia suffered right-rear suspension failure with just over five hours left on the clock while running in a strong position.

The car ultimately finished 13th and last of the GTD Pro finishers, 25 laps down.

“One of those that could have been for the whole team,” reflected Sims. “The real shame is that it didn’t just happen to one car; both had issues to compromise the end result.

“Our Corvettes were working really well. We had decent pace but I don’t know if we would have been able to fight at the front right to the end.

“It seemed like others seemed to get quite strong at the end. Who knows. It would have been nice to have been in with a chance.

“The Pratt Miller team did a great job all race. We had flawless pit stops and just the one issue. The guys will look into that and we’ll come back stronger at Sebring.”