The Briton revealed that he made errors on his two fast laps aboard the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar within the opening 15-minute qualifying session.
That left him exterior the highest 10 vehicles that progressed to the ultimate session through which team-mate Antonio Fuoco claimed pole position by half a second in the sister Ferrari.
“I screwed up each laps principally,” Calado instructed Autosport.
“I went lengthy into Flip 5 [Les Combes] on the primary lap; I misplaced the automobile, my mistake.
“Then on the second lap I used to be two or three tenths up after which at Flip 12 [Fagnes], I did precisely the identical factor — so I tousled twice.”
Calado’s greatest time of 2m03.002s put him eleventh within the instances, which meant he missed out on progressing to Hyperpole by simply two hundredths.
“It was tight: the fact was that with out these mess-ups I may have been in Hyperpole,” stated Calado, final 12 months’s Le Mans 24 Hours winner final 12 months with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The Briton conceded that he wouldn’t have been capable of combat with Fuoco for the highest spot had he made it into Hyperpole.
“I couldn’t have challenged Antonio – he was simply too quick,” he stated.
“It’s tough as a result of that was solely my third ever qualifying on this automobile.
“It’s fairly an enormous step to adapt from a automobile arrange for the race, which is what I’m used to.”
“Fuji final 12 months was my final qualifying, whereas Antonio does all of the quali periods within the different automobile, which I believe is sweet concept.”
Calado insisted that he nonetheless has confidence going into Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours primarily based on the efficiency of the #51 Ferrari by way of free observe.
“Our efficiency on paper from our race runs appears to be like fairly good,” he defined.
“We’re assured we now have received a plan for the race.
“Not like final time at Imola, right here you’ll be able to overtake and there’s a lot extra tyre administration concerned, so I hope we will combat ahead.
“I’ve simply to attempt to get this quali factor out of my head after which concentrate on the race.”
The Spa 6 Hours, spherical three of the 2024 WEC, begins at 13:00 native time on Saturday.