1268: Christina Nielsen is a 26-year-old sports car driver.

Christina Nielsen is a 26-year-old sports car driver from Denmark. She is a two-time champion who, in 2016 with her team, won the IMSA Championship and she became the first woman to ever win a major full-season sportscar championship in North America, a success she repeated in 2017. At Daytona this year, she drove for Meyer-Shank Racing in an Acura NSX 57, as part of an all-female line-up by Caterpillar. Her father, Lars Erik Nielsen, raced for many years including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, and 12 Hours of Sebring. She started karting at the age of 13 and since then has dedicated her life to racing. She has raced the Porsche Carrera Cups, the IMSA Tudor Championship, Pirelli World Championship, and the ADAC GT Masters. Christina’s mantra is “I’m not a female who is a sports car driver, I am a sports car driver who is a female.”