Christina Nielsen Pre-Mazda Raceway Report

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starts each season with its two longest races, a 24-hour event at Daytona in January and a 12-hour event at Sebring in March.

Next up for North America's premier sports car championship is the Continental Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda on April 29-May 1 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. That race is only two hours long, but GT Daytona class championship contender Christina Nielsen sees little difference in the mentality needed to succeed in the endurance races and the shorter events.

"You might be driving 12 hours (at Sebring), but it feels like 12 one-hour races of sprints or six two-hour races of sprints because you're always pushing," Nielsen said. "I wouldn't say much has changed (for Laguna Seca). I still think we're going to go out and do the same thing.

"But we've also got to be aware that if something goes wrong, we do not have that much time to make up for it as you would in a 12-hour race. So you've got to make sure you're precise in everything. But we always do that."

Danish driver Nielsen and co-driver Alessandro Balzan of Italy enter the event with plenty of momentum in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3. They were part of the team that won its last start, in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida. That was Nielsen's first WeatherTech Championship victory and helped her and Balzan vault to second in the GT Daytona championship with 62 points, just five behind the lead.

Nielsen, Balzan and the Scuderia Corsa team will continue developing their new Ferrari F488, which they drove to victory at Sebring in their first outing in the car. The base setup worked well on the flat, bumpy circuit at Sebring, and Nielsen is keen to see how it performs on the hilly, smooth track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which features the famous "Corkscrew" complex among its 11 turns and 2.238 miles (3.602 km).

"I think that's what I'm most excited about, how it's going to be to find the most suitable setup," Nielsen said. "It is all new to us. The car doesn't have that much experience around American tracks.

"Development is going to happen naturally during the weekend. Good progress within development equals a fast car, which normally equals a good final result."

This weekend's event also features a unique split race format. The GT Daytona and Prototype Challenge classes will race together for two hours from 3:45-5:45 p.m. (PT) Sunday, May 1, while the Prototypes and GT Le Mans classes will have their own two-hour race earlier that afternoon.

"I think it's great in the sense there's less racing between the classes," Nielsen said. "It will allow traffic to have a smaller input on the result.

"But I also think one of the skills you have to master to be a good driver is to be able to come through traffic quickly. So definitely it lowers the expectation of the drivers because you don't have as much traffic, but in the end, I also think it's quite positive because it allows us to really focus on the racing within the class and not have to worry about external factors that could have an influence on your results."

Up Next

Race: Continental Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda

Date: Friday, April 29-Sunday, May 1, 2016

Venue: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California. 11-turn, 2.238-mile (3.602 km) natural terrain road circuit.

Car: No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 (GT Daytona class)

Co-Driver: Alessandro Balzan, Italy

Schedule (all times local, -7 GMT): Friday, April 29 - Practice, 10:50-11:50 a.m., 4:45-5:45 p.m. Saturday, April 30 - Practice, 9-9:45 a.m.; Qualifying, 4:30-4:45 p.m. Sunday, May 1 - Race (two hours, with PC class), 3:45-5:45 p.m.

Race broadcast: 6:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, May 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports GO; audio from all sessions live at imsa.com and radiolemans.com