Historic blonde moment: Christina roars back to take motor-racing title

Just 12 months on from the agony of a final race defeat, Nielsen takes the title

Oct 3, 2016

Danish racing driver Christina Nielsen, 24, didn’t remain the bridesmaid for long – even if her triumphant moment on the podium did end up resembling a bizarre wedding of sorts.

After she became the first ever female driver to win a major present-day North American endurance championship over the weekend, continuing the form that saw her miss out on the final day of the 2015 season, her team-mates donned blonde wigs to celebrate with her!

A formality in the end
Racing in a Ferrari 488 GT3 for the Scuderia Corsa team, Neilsen and co-driver Alessandro Balzan had a 32-point lead heading into the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on Saturday thanks to a good season that included victories in March’s Twelve Hours of Sebring and July’s Six Hours of The Glen.

This meant she only needed to drive for the first three hours and eight minutes, which she duly did to claim the International Motor Sports Association’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which is often referred to as the GT Daytona title.

Not quite a groundbreaker
Neilsen’s season isn’t over, however. “To call ourselves ‘champions’ this early is unbelievable, but we’ve still got an endurance championship to go for so game on,” she said according to USA Today.

Nielsen, who is the daughter of racing driver Lars-Erik Nielsen, has widely been reported as the first ever female winner of a North American endurance championship, but according to some sources that isn’t true, as Melanie Snow won the GTC class of the American Le Mans Series in 2009.