Christina Nielsen is excited to see where her future lies after Scuderia Corsa decided not to retain her alongside Alessandro Balzan in 2018 despite the duo claiming two consecutive GT Daytona championship wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Nielsen will be replaced by Cooper MacNeil at Scuderia Corsa in 2018, but despite being released, she feels she can bring value to any team that bring her onboard, with the twenty-five-year-old believing her championship-winning credentials will assist her in finding a ride.
“The way I see it, I bring value to a team,” said Nielsen on Racer. “I just need to find that team and that group of people that want to take advantage of that value.
“I don’t know what the future holds at the moment, but I do know that I’ve had some pretty good years and I think I’ve accomplished more already in these three years than a lot of the people in the paddock have achieved over several years.
“It’s got to be tough for some of the competitors that have been there for a longer time that here comes in this chick and suddenly I’m always there at the end for the championship the last three years in a row. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
Nielsen and Balzan may have only won once in their Ferrari 488 GT3 during their 2017 championship-winning campaign at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but the consistency of the duo – they took six consecutive podium finishes starting with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – enabled them to defend the title they first earned in 2016.
“You win the championship performing the best you can and getting the most out of a race weekend when it’s not your race weekend,” said Nielsen. “When you have everything going against you and nothing seems right, and it’s really hard mentally but you still create a decent or good result.
“That’s when you know you’re a strong contender for the championship. That’s when you know you’re a champion at mind.
“As a driver, I think it’s always important to ask yourself risk versus reward. How rewarded am I going to be by making this pass or taking this chance? How important is it compared to how much am I risking? What am I throwing away?”
