This has been a season of firsts for Christina Nielsen.
In March, she won her first career IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, capturing GTD class honors in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Now, the 24-year-old Nielsen will make her first appearance this weekend in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, joining fellow Denmark countrymen Johnny Laursen and Mikkel Mac Jensen in the No. 60 Formula Racing Ferrari F458 Italia.
“In some ways, Sebring is similar to Le Mans because endurance racing is endurance racing,” Nielsen said in a media release. “You’ve always got to take care of the car, give it to the co-driver in the condition that you would like to receive it yourself, and you’ve got to consider that the battle is not fought in the fourth or sixth or eighth hours.
“But the rules are a little bit different for Le Mans. The rules regarding safety zones and safety cars are different, so it is a little bit of a different approach. But we’re going to give it our all.”
Nielsen is coming off a third-place finish at Detroit in the IMSA event there nearly two weeks ago, which helped increase the lead she and co-driver Alessandro Balzan have in the IMSA GTD point standings to eight points over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas.
Nielsen just barely missed winning the GTD championship last season. She feels that a good run at Le Mans will only help enhance her chances to finally win that elusive crown this year.
“Le Mans has been on the list for a couple of years now,” Nielsen said. “It’s something every driver dreams of doing. I can’t thank Formula Racing enough for giving me this opportunity. I can’t wait to give it a shot.
“It’s going to be my first [Le Mans] 24 Hours. I’ve been to the track last year at the Aston Martin Racing Festival, but this is the first time there in the Ferrari with Mikkel (Mac Jensen) and Johnny (Laursen).”
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