DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Aug. 18, 2015) – Christina Nielsen is looking to extend her lead atop a close GT Daytona (GTD) points battle in Sunday’s Oak Tree Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway, Round 10 of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
Nielsen captured the GTD points lead with her third second-place finish of the year for TRG-AMR in the most recent race at Road America, co-driving the No. 007 Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA Aston Martin Vantage with Kuno Wittmer.
Now, she’s looking forward to her first TUDOR Championship race at VIR – a 17-turn, 3.27-mile circuit located in Alton, Virginia. The race showcases the GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GTD classes, and will be televised live on FOX Sports 1, beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
“We went testing at VIR, and it’s a very cool track,” Nielsen said. “I think it will be very good for our car. We’re starting from scratch, and we want to keep fighting every single lap of every practice session to make it better.”
Nielsen leads Paul Miller Racing’s Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke by two points, 199-197. The drivers of the No. 48 Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS have three podium finishes this season.
Third in the standings with 190 points are Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, drivers of the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Robert Graham/Royal Purple Ferrari 458 Italia. One point back with 189 points are the drivers of the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America, Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen.
Other Porsche contenders include the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT America co-driven by Ian James and Mario Farnbacher, who have won twice this season; Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca winners Patrick Lindsey and Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche; and the No. 44 Magnus Racing/Flex-Box Porsche of John Potter and Andy Lally.
Pumpelly has multiple ties to Virginia and VIR. He is a native of Mason Neck, went to school in Harrisonburg, and has logged plenty of testing hours at the circuit while driving for Race Prep Motorsports.
“VIR certainly has that welcoming feel that you find at a home track,” Pumpelly said. “The staff is very welcoming to all the drivers and the fans. This season, when we’ve stayed away from bad luck, we’ve been on the podium, and VIR is definitely a track where we can showcase what we do. I have the best starting driver, and hopefully Patrick will win another TOTAL Pole Award. Also, VIR is a track where I’ve never won a pro race, and I’d like to change that this weekend.”
Riley Motorsports is coming off a victory at Road America, with Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen winning in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R. Keating is a two-time winner in 2015 after opening the season by sharing the class triumph at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in a second Riley Motorsports’ Viper, the No. 93 car.
BMW entered the win column at Lime Rock Park, with Michael Marsal and substitute driver Dane Cameron winning in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4. Team regular Markus Palttala returns to co-drive with Marsal this weekend. Turner Motorsport looks to defend its race win as the team took the checkered flag at VIR with Cameron and Palttala sharing the car last year en route to capturing the 2014 GTD team championship.
Compass360 Racing recently expanded from the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge into the TUDOR Championship with the No. 76 AERO Advanced Paint Technology/Children’s Tumor Foundation Audi R8 LMS, and finished eighth in its debut at Lime Rock Park and ninth at Road America. Ray Mason and Pierre Kleinubing will co-drive the car at VIR.
TUDOR Championship practice opens at 11:45 a.m. ET on Friday, with qualifying streamed live on IMSA.com and the IMSA mobile app beginning at 4:40 p.m. ET on Saturday.