This weekend, defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Christina Nielsen will compete in the final race of an exhilarating, successful season. She, along with co-drivers Alessandro Balzan and Matteo Cressoni, will start the Petit Le Mans weekend in a familiar situation: as the points leaders of the GTD class Championship. In 2016, Nielsen was the first female driver to win a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series title. Now, she’s poised to make that two in a row.
The team will race the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 in the famous 10-hour endurance race just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Over the last 11 races, the team has earned a top-three result an impressive seven times, quickened by a six-race podium streak earlier in the season and topped off with a win at the most recent race at Laguna Seca. With a 26-point lead in the WeatherTech Championship and a one-point lead in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (NAEC), Nielsen and the team have their sights set on one last trip to the podium in 2017.
“Road Atlanta is my favorite track,” said Nielsen. “It’s a high-speed, fluid road course and is quite technical as it requires precision from the driver. And, it’s the first American track I ever raced at. We had a podium finish here last year, so hopefully we can repeat that! It would be nice to finish off with a victory, but anything can happen in a 10-hour race.
“It’s going to be great to have Matteo back in the car, and we’re going in with a nice big lead in the points. Closing out the Championship will be priority number one, and the second priority is fighting for victory in the NAEC. Hopefully, we can bring it home.”
Nielsen, Balzan, Scuderia Corsa are in the NAEC Championship lead, followed very closely by the No. 33 AMG-Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 co-driven by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
“The last race of the year is always both exciting and sad at the same time. The reason it’s exciting is because it’s the end of a long season which lasts from January to October. That’s a lot of races, effort, and pressure to perform for a driver, so there’s relief when you’ve accomplished another full season of successful racing. But, it’s also sad, because another great year has come to an end.”
Nielsen’s looking forward to forming new partnerships as she heads into the next season in this enviable position. This is the third year in a row she’s been in contention to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the most important sportscar series in North America. She fully expects to continue and increase this level of success as her racing career unfolds.
