A series of clever moves and daring battles led to a fantastic second-place finish for Christina Nielsen, Alessandro Balzan, and Scuderia Corsa at the Circuit of The Americas. This is the third consecutive podium finish this season for the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 squad, which entered the race second overall in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD standings. With this finish, the team maintains their position just behind Riley Motorsports.
“Scuderia Corsa has always performed really well,” said Nielsen. “Today, they executed at the top level. It was an amazing effort by the team, and it was nice to have another podium finish and score some good points for the championship! We’re still searching for that victory, but Mercedes is hard to compete against at the moment, and Riley Motorsports is a good team. Congrats to those guys.”
Just after Nielsen’s race start from 10th position, a tangle of GTLM machines in the first turn caused havoc for the next-tier GTD field that followed. She reacted quickly and drove wide, avoiding the action at the top of the hill. The move proved to be successful, as Nielsen gained multiple places in the process.
Maintaining her position in seventh throughout the following laps, she was trailed very closely by competitor Katherine Legge in the No. 93 Acura. After staying just out of reach during the opening laps, Nielsen’s nimble driving was tested once again as Legge attempted to pass, finally overtaking the No. 63 in the tricky Turn 12 – though just for a second. Nielsen took advantage of the wide pass by Legge and quickly regained her seventh place position, delivering the car safely to the pits for a driver change on the subsequent lap.
Balzan took over for the remainder of the race, taking the Ferrari 488 GT3 through a packed field of Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans, and GT Daytona cars. He wove his way through traffic to take fourth position; after a final pitstop he landed squarely in third as he fought with the No. 48 Lamborghini. With 30 minutes left on the race clock, Balzan gained a position to take second place, which he held through the checkered flag. Scuderia Corsa celebrated success on the Circuit of The Americas podium for the second consecutive year.
“In this race, we had some good battles,” Nielsen said. “I had a strong start and gained some positions, and Alessandro gained even more during the race. There are so many overtaking possibilities here, but it’s actually really difficult to do so. Overall, it was good, clean racing.”
Nielsen and Scuderia Corsa are still hungry for victory. Next, they head to Belle Isle Park in Detroit for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, June 2 and 3.
