The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is one of Christina Nielsen’s most prolific IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup season. From March 14 to 17, she’ll race the 66th annual endurance event with a Wright Motorsports-prepared Porsche. The Ohio-based team will support Nielsen and co-drivers Patrick Long, Mathieu Jaminet and Robert Renauer in the No. 58 911 GT3 R at this famously treacherous track for the race in Sebring, Florida. This is the second round of a dozen events in the IMSA series in which Nielsen is defending her two-time GTD-class championship.
Nielsen looks to continue a longstanding pattern of success at Sebring International Raceway. The 2018 Porsche Selected Driver has earned a place on the winner’s podium three times over the last three years, once, with a victory. The 12-hour race has long been a classic on the North American endurance racing circuit, and the old airfield is known for being one of the bumpiest, most difficult tracks for any driver. However, with Nielsen commanding a Porsche, the manufacturer that’s seen the most success at Sebring, the oldest sportscar race in the United States, the odds may be in her favor.
“The Sebring race is super cool and is one of my favorites, but the track is so bumpy that drivers really have to take care of the car,” Nielsen said. “It exhausts both the car and the driver. Being consistent and staying mentally cool and focused are the key elements needed to do well in this race. The car needs to be balanced enough to race during the day, and still stay competitive after the temperature drops at night and we push through those final two hours of racing.”
Though Nielsen has seen great success at Sebring, she gives the grueling event the respect it deserves.
“We’re still going in with the mentality that we’re starting from scratch,” Nielsen acknowledged. “We’ll just take things as they are from the first practice, then see how everything feels. Sebring is a super intense 12-hour race where everyone is pushing all the time, but it is still an endurance race. As always, we’ll take it just one hour at a time and see where we are during the final two hours.”
