Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan overcame early trouble at the Motul Petit Le Mans to clinch the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GT Daytona class.
The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 duo paired up with Matteo Cressoni at Road Atlanta, and Nielsen and Balzan watched as the Italian have an off-track moment that cost them a lot of time in the pits, but after both lead drivers achieved their minimum time in the cockpit to get points, they took the title by twenty points from Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The result means that Nielsen and Balzan secured a second consecutive GT Daytona championship crown, and the former says it was a great achievement to do the double.
“We did a thing that not a lot of people have done,” said Nielsen. “One is fine, but twice is even greater. This one is even tougher than last year.
“The mentality of never resting on previous results, and always pushing and working harder than we ever have before has been our advantage. And that’s why we’re standing here today.”
Co-driver Balzan added that it was great to win the Teams’ Championship on Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, with the Italian sharing seven podiums with Nielsen throughout the season.
“At the very end, we were also able to win the manufacturer championship for Ferrari on its 70th anniversary so it’s great honestly,” added Balzan.
