Christina Nielsen and co-driver Alessandro Balzan earned yet another top-5 finish for Scuderia Corsa and scooped up additional Championship points in today’s race at Virginia International Raceway. The Ferrari team leads the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class by 13 points with just two more races left in the season.
Nielsen started the two-hour, 40-minute event in 10th position. At the start of the race, she managed to weave the No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 through a chaotic opening lap, and in less than 10 laps, she gained five places on the grid. For the remainder of her stint on the 3.27-mile track, Nielsen kept ahead of her competitors to maintain her top-5 position, which Balzan then held through to the end. The team remains the GTD class leader after securing today’s fourth-place finish.
“We had a good start to the race and gained a few positions,” Nielsen said. “Our goal is always to earn a top-5 finish. We didn’t have quite the momentum today to get more than we did, but it was a solid top-5 finish which earned us good points. Of course, we always want to increase our lead. Our competition managed to finish in front of us, so we lost a few points, but we arrived within the target where we wanted to be.”
The team’s next race is at the beautiful Laguna Seca track near Monterey, California. With the Championship nearing a close, the sportscar teams in contention for the remaining points will be fighting for the top step on the podium with all they can muster.
“It’s really getting intense among the strongest runners,” Nielsen said. “You can definitely see who was there today, fighting for every position, just like we were.”
In the last two races, as it has done for the entire season, the team will focus on gathering more points with as little risk as possible to keep the season Championship win in its grasp.
“We know where we need to be for the last two races, strategy-wise, so that’s where our focus is,” Nielsen said.
