24 December 2016
Maranello, 24 December 2016 - The IMSA SportsCar Championship 2016 series will go down in motorsport history thanks to Ferrari customer team driver Christina Nielsen. The blond haired, blue-eyed Dane is not yet 25 years old but is very fast. Paired with Italy’s Alessandro Balzan, she won the GT-Daytona class title at the wheel of the 488 GT3 of Scuderia Corsa. She did so at the end of a season to remember where she regularly performed well, also winning two important races such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.
Sebring winner. Christina opened her season in a 458 Italia at Daytona, while in the second race she was at the wheel of the new 488 GT3. It was love at first sight with this car, driving it to victory on its debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, along with Balzan and Jeff Segal. She came second at Laguna Seca, third in Detroit and at Watkins Glen, again with Balzan and Segal, secured her second win of the season.
The triple stint. Two third places at Road America and COTA allowed the Dane to wrap up the title with a triple stint of 188 consecutive minutes in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, the final race of the season. This places her in the exclusive world of women who have made motorsport history, along with people like Lella Lombardi, Jutta Kleinschmidt, Marie-Claude Charmasson and Michele Mouton. Nielsen and Balzan also celebrated success in the North American Endurance Cup (NAEC), the subcategory that only takes account of the most prestigious and long races: the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and the Petit Le Mans. They also enjoyed the team success of Scuderia Corsa.