For the second year running, the FIA WEC stops off for a leg at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, host of the sixth round of the 2025 season, staged on one of the most iconic circuits in the United States. The track “is one of the toughest of the season,” says James Calado, driver of the number 51 499P, shared with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi. 

A lap of COTA is completed in around 1:53.145, based on the best race time set in 2024 by the number 83 499P of AF Corse, which clinched its first overall win in America. “After the main straight we arrive at turn one, which has a steep incline, much steeper than you might think when watching from the grandstands,” explains the British driver. Turn-1 is taken in first gear and has a “blind” apex where “you need to be really precise, getting ready to accelerate downhill: traction is really important here” as the cars prepare to enter “the circuit’s most famous section, really fast, a left-right ‘snake’ where precision between the kerbs is crucial,” underlines Calado. 

Next comes a long, slow-speed right-hander “where you focus on using the kerb to the full to maximise the exit speed,” then, passing beneath the iconic bridge, downhill again “to another left-hand hairpin where we once again select first gear: here it’s essential to follow the perfect line to get good traction on the exit onto the circuit’s longest straight, which is marked by a few bumps down the middle.”

After COTA’s second main straight, “we try to stay in the centre of the track, and not over on the right as usual, to approach the hairpin where we again shift down to first gear, then move the car all the way to the left for the following double-apex corner, one of the toughest on the circuit and really demanding on the tyres.”

In the final sector, “you enter a ‘blind’ left-hand corner that feels like it never ends and, once again, by making the most of the full width of the track on exit, you try to optimise traction through turns 16 to 18, in a section where it’s crucial to avoid breaching track limits,” continues the 1989-born driver. “This part is very demanding and can be the difference between a decent lap and a great one, leading into the final low-speed left-hand corner that takes you onto the main straight.”