24 year-old IMSA breakout talent, Christina Nielsen, is poised to make sports car racing history Sept. 29-Oct. 1 during Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The GT Daytona (GTD) racer is on the brink of winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class title.
If Nielsen completes her required minimum of three of the 10 hours of the final event of the season in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, she will become the first female driver to win a major North American sports car racing championship, including IMSA, GRAND-AM and ALMS.
The 10-hour event on Road Atlanta’s 12-turn, 2.54-mile course, located in Braselton, Georgia, begins at 11:10 a.m. (ET) Saturday, Oct. 1.
“Petit is definitely my favorite event of the entire year, but I think it’s also the event that I’m most nervous about,” Nielsen said. “I know I was last year because we were in contention to win the championship, and we’re going into the same position this year. We do have a much bigger lead this year, which makes me a little bit more calm.”
Following a third-place finish Sept. 17 in Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas, Christina Nielsen and Scuderia Corsa teammate Alessandro Balzan lead the GTD class by 32 points, 299-267, over the second-place duo of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The sixth podium finish of the season, at Lone Star Le Mans, is a career best for Christina Nielsen. Last season, she stood on the podium five times en route to a second-place finish in the GTD standings by just two points.
“I know we still need to bring it home,” Nielsen said. “We always want to finish on a good note. My dad (former Danish driver Lars-Erik Nielsen) used to say, ‘You’re never better than your last race,’ because people always remember the last race. It’s always great to do well at the end of the season. Road Atlanta is my favorite track. It’s the first track I ever raced on in America. It scared me, and I remembering thinking, ‘Is every track like this here?’ I’ve grown to love it, though; it has an amazing flow and setup. Plus I think a 10-hour race will be a great length for our team.”
Jeff Segal, the team’s third driver for endurance events, will join Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan behind the wheel of the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 at Petit Le Mans presented by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.
The trio has been formidable this season, winning two of the three previous endurance races, the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida in mid-March and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in early July. Following the team’s success in these endurance races, Nielsen and Scuderia Corsa are also in the running for the IMSA Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup. Nielsen is in second place by just two points and the upcoming Petit Le Mans endurance race will determine the winner.
Event Info
Race: Petit Le Mans (IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Date: Thursday, Sept. 28 to Saturday, Oct. 1
Venue: Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia. Turns: 12. Circuit Length: 2.54 miles.
Car: No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 (GT Daytona class)
Co-Drivers: Christina Nielsen, Denmark |Alessandro Balzan, Italy | Jeff Segal, United States
Race broadcast: Saturday, Oct. 1 – 11:00 a.m. to 9:10 p.m. (ET) on IMSA.tv; 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. (ET), FOX Sports 1, and 2:30 – 6 p.m. (ET), FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports GO; audio from all sessions live at imsa.com and radiolemans.com.
Live Timing: www.imsa.com, IMSA app for iOS, Android
Schedule (all times local, ET):
Thursday, Sept. 29 –
- Practice 1: 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
- Practice 2: 3:25-4:25 p.m.
- Practice 3: 7:30-9 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 30 –
- Practice 4: 10:15-11:15 a.m.
- Qualifying: 3:30-3:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 1 –
- Warm-up: 8:40 – 9 a.m.;
- WeatherTech Championship race: 11:10 a.m. – 9:10 p.m.
About Christina Nielsen
Christina Nielsen has emerged as one of the brightest young talents in global sports car racing since she began competition in North America in 2014.
Nielsen, 24, was a breakout star in 2015 during her first season in the GT Daytona (GTD) class of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the most prestigious sports car series in North America. She finished second in the championship standings, just two points behind the winner, and scored the most podium finishes in the class.
Denmark native Nielsen is racing for the GTD class championship in 2016 in a Ferrari 488 GT3 car. She earned her first career victory in the WeatherTech Championship in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring, becoming the first female class winner at that legendary race in a decade. She also is driving a Ferrari F458 Italia in the LM GTE class in the European Le Mans Series with Formula Racing.
A resident of Los Angeles, Nielsen is focused on being one of the most skilled, well-rounded drivers in global motorsport by also studying for a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management communication, as she aims to deliver results for her team and personal commercial partners both on and off the track.
For the latest news from Christina Nielsen, please visit christinanielsenracing.com.
For updates, like her on Facebook and follow @ChristinaRacing on Twitter.
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