Andrea Caldarelli

Andrea Caldarelli is an Italian racing driver whose greatest and most recent success are championship titles both in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe in 2019, when he was driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for FFF Racing Team. Previously, he won Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2017, also with Lamborghini.

Caldarelli spent six seasons, from 2012 to 2017, in the Japanese Super GT Series with Lexus, finishing two times as a vice-champion of GT500 class, in 2014 and 2016.

Earlier in a career, until 2015, Caldarelli was active in single-seater racing, competing in Japanese Super Formula (Formula Nippon), GP2 and GP3 Series, Formula 3 and Formula Renault. In 2008, he was a test driver for Toyota F1 team.

Andrea Caldarelli

A son of a racing driver started to race early

Born in February 1990 in Pescara, in a family of racing driver Vitaliano Caldarelli, Andrea started his racing career at the age 10 in karting competitions. He moved to car racing in 2005, entering several single-seater competitions in the same year (Formula Azzura, Formula Gloria, Formula Renault).

In 2006, his main competition was the Italian Formula Renault and then he progressed to Formula Renault Eurocup in 2007. In 2008, Caldarelli finished third in the Eurocup, behind two future F1 stars Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. In 2008, Caldarelli also had an opportunity to drive an F1 car, testing with Toyota Racing.

Two seasons in Formula 3

In 2009, Caldarelli progressed to Formula 3, driving for SG Formula in the Formula 3 Euro Series. With just one podium during the season, he finished 14th in the points.

He spent one more season in Formula 3, driving for Prema Powerteam in the Italian F3 Championship. He was a race winner three times, finishing third in the points behind Cesar Ramos and Stephane Richelmi.

In 2011, Andrea Caldarelli made a debut in Formula Nippon

Moving to Japan in 2011

In 2011, Caldarelli recorded few attempts in the GP2 Asia Series and GP3 Series but his main competition was the Formula Nippon. He started the GP3 Series season with Tech 1 Racing but withdrew from series after two rounds due to budget issues. He was among the front-runners in all four races he participated, even scoring one podium.

In the Formula Nippon, Caldarelli was driving the #3 Toyota for Kondo Racing, not scoring a single point in seven races.

Super GT Series debut in 2012

In 2012, Caldarelli stayed in Japan and made a debut in the Super GT Series. He joined Lexus Team Kraft to drive the #35 Lexus SC430 alongside Yuji Kunimoto.

They were on a podium at season's greatest race, the Suzuka 1000 Kilometers, finishing in the second place. Other results were not so good and they finished just 13th in the final standings of GT500 class.

Andrea Caldarelli in 2014

Double Japanese programme in 2013 and 2014

Super GT Series remained Caldarelli's main competition in 2013 but he also returned to Formula Nippon, now under the new name of Japanese Super Formula Championship.  He participated in three SF races with Team LeMans. In the 2013 Super GT Series, Caldarelli was sharing the #37 KeePer Tom's Lexus SC430 with Daisuke Ito. Scoring two podiums, they finished 8th in the points.

In 2014, driving a new Lexus RC F and winning once at Okayama, Caldarelli and Ito became Super GT vice-champions, losing a title by two points to Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli. In the 2014 Super Formula season, he participated in two races as a replacement for Toyota drivers, scoring a podium with a third-place finish at Motegi.

Ryo Hirakawa and Andrea Caldarelli in 2015

Participating in three competitions in 2015

In 2015, Caldarelli had a busy schedule in three championships. In the Super GT Series, he was sharing Team Tom's #37 Lexus RC F with Ryo Hirakawa, winning two races (Okayama and Motegi) to finish fifth in the points.

Caldarelli also returned full-time to Super Formula, driving the #20 Dallara-Toyota for Lenovo Team Impul. Without wins or podiums, he finished 14th in the points. In 2015, Caldarelli was also driving the #5 McLaren 650S GT3 for Chinese FFF Racing Team by ACM in four of six rounds of the GT Asia Series.

Andrea Caldarelli and Kazuya Oshima in 2016

Super GT vice-champion again in 2016

For the 2016 Super GT Series, Calderalli joined Lexus Team LeMans WAKO's to drive the #6 Lexus RC F together with Kazuya Oshima. Without wins, scoring two podiums, they finished second in the final GT500 classification.

In 2016, Caldarelli also continued a cooperation with FFF Racing Team by ACM, having a managing duties and driving their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in one round of the International GT Open, sharing a car with Vitantonio Liuzzi. In two rounds of GT Open, he was driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 for Chinese team SF Racing.

Andrea Caldarelli was the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup champion in 2017

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup winner in 2017

In 2017, Caldarelli became Lamborghini factory driver and he was driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for three different teams in three different competitions. He finally scored his first championship title in a career by winning the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, together with Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart in the #63 Grasser Racing Team's Lamborghini. They were race winners at Monza and Silverstone. Caldarelli also joined GRT in one round of the Sprint Cup, scoring two podiums at Nurburgring.

In other competitions with Lamborghini, he joined Paul Miller Racing at Daytona 24 Hours (7th in GTD class) and FFF Racing in GT Asia Series. He also rejoined SF Racing in four rounds of the International GT Open, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3.

The season 2017 was Caldarelli's last in the Japanese Super GT Series

Third place in the 2017 Super GT Series season

Caldarelli's third race car in 2017 was a new Lexus LC500 in the Japanese Super GT Series. He was sharing the #6 car with Kazuya Oshima, finishing third in the final standings of the championship. Caldarelli and Oshima reached four podiums during a season, at Okayama, Fuji Speedway, Sportsland Sugo and Chang International Circuit, but scored no wins.

Class podium at 2018 Daytona 24 Hours

After six seasons in Super GT Series, Caldarelli left the series in 2018, focusing solely on his commitments as a factory driver for Lamborghini Squadra Corse. He started a season with a podium at Daytona 24 Hours, finishing third in GTD class in the #23 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Paul Miller Racing.

Later in the season, he raced mostly with Grasser Racing Team's Lamborghini in European competitions (Blancpain GT Series, ADAC GT Masters) but also joined JLOC in some Japanese races.

Andrea Caldarelli (left) scored GTD class podium at 2018 Daytona 24 Hours

Fantastic season of 2019

In 2019, Caldarelli had a fantastic season, ending as a champion both in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe (former Sprint Cup). He was driving Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for FFF Racing Team, sharing a car in both competitions with Marco Mapelli.

In the Endurance Cup, they won just one race, in Barcelona, winning the championship with one-point advantage over SMP Racing's crew. In sprint races, they were winners two times, at Misano and Nurburgring, finishing tied in points with the second-placed Black Falcon's crew.

Victory at Daytona at the start of the 2020 season

In 2020, Caldarelli stayed with Lamborghini and opened the season with a victory at 24 Hours of Daytona, where he was driving the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo for Paul Miller Racing. He was sharing the car with Corey Lewis, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow.

Photos: Andrea Caldarelli,