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 outdoors the highest 10 vehicles that progressed to the ultimate session through which team-mate Antonio Fuoco claimed pole place by half a second within the sister Ferrari.
“I screwed up each laps mainly,” Calado informed Motorsport.com. “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.”
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Calado’s finest 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 might have been in Hyperpole,” stated Calado, final yr’s Le Mans 24 Hours winner final yr with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
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 yr was my final qualifying, whereas Antonio does all of the quali periods within the different automobile, which I believe is nice thought.”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Picture by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA
Calado insisted that he nonetheless has confidence going into Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours based mostly on the efficiency of the #51 Ferrari by way of free apply.
“Our efficiency on paper from our race runs appears to be like fairly good,” he defined.
“We’re assured we’ve got bought a plan for the race.
“In contrast to final time at Imola, right here you may overtake and there’s a lot extra tyre administration concerned, so I hope we are able to combat ahead.
“I’ve simply to attempt to get this quali factor out of my head after which give attention to the race.”
The Spa 6 Hours, spherical three of the 2024 WEC, begins at 13:00 native time on Saturday.