IMSA: Nielsen, Balzan clinch GTD championship

Scuderia Corsa earned back-to-back GT Daytona championships shortly after the three-hour when Christina Nielsen completed her minimum drive time in the No. 63 Ferrari 488.

The Dane and her Italian teammate Alessandro Balzan follow Americans Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, who earned the GTD title for Scuderia Corsa at Petit Le Mans in 2015. With the achievement, Nielsen scored her first North American championship and Balzan added to his Grand-Am Rolex GT title from 2013 – also with Scuderia Corsa.

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"I'm sad that this is perhaps the last time I get to run the 488 this year, but it's absolutely amazing that we ran it and it ran so well," Nielsen said after climbing from the Prancing Horse.

"It's a nice car to drive, the team did a great job, good pit stops. This just shows what the team has been doing all year. It's a pleasure to be a part of, they just do so much right and so little wrong. To call ourselves 'champions' this early is unbelievable, but we've still got an endurance championship to go for so, game on."

A stellar season with two wins, which came at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, and four additional podiums propelled Nielsen and Balzan into Petit Le Mans with a lead that all but assured the title.