However, it wasn’t to be but the Anglo-Italian partnership did win two of the eight races, including finishing the season on a high note by winning the LMGTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.  Calado and Pier Guidi finished the 2018/19 season as Vice Champions, just 18.5 points behind the Porsche pairing of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen.

After a short four week break the teams gathered in Barcelona for The Prologue, the official pre season test, and we caught up with James Calado as he and his team prepare for the new season that begins at Silverstone on Sunday 1 September.

“It’s nice to be back at it again; not a lot of time since Le Mans.  Silverstone is the first race, which is great for the British drivers.  I love the Silverstone circuit, it’s a fantastic track and I am really looking forward to getting started with the new season.

“Going from Le Mans we’ve got a great chance, we showed some performance and I am looking forward to the whole season.

“Winning Le Mans was very special.  We prepared very hard.  We took a different approach, a more reliable approach as we wanted to keep the car as fresh as possible for the end of the race. We know that the car is very fragile, so strategy was a big part of it and to get the win was amazing, I think I have only just come down from it.  

“It’s been mental since the win but now we need to forget that and concentrate on a new season and on the next Le Mans.  We just need to keep pushing and get the best result for Ferrari.”

The 4 Hours of Silverstone is Round 1 of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season which takes place in the UK from Thursday 30 August until Sunday 1 September.