Nielsen wins ADAC GT Masters Gentlemen title

• Porsche driver wraps up class championship ahead of time
• Fourth win of season enough to secure trophy

The winner of the 2013 ADAC GT Masters Gentlemen class is a woman: Christina Nielsen from Denmark posted her fourth victory of the season in the amateur stakes to secure the title in the penultimate round of the season at Hockenheim. Nielsen becomes the first female driver in the seven-year history of the ADAC GT Masters to pick up a championship trophy. For the 21-year-old student from Aarhus, who has previously contested the Formel ADAC series, this is the biggest success in her motor racing career to date. “I was a bag of nerves going into the race, and I’m just so relieved that I was able to win the title in the first of this weekend’s two outings. This means that the pressure is off for Sunday’s grand finale and should help us to round off the season with another decent result.”

The ambitious young Porsche driver is in only her fifth season of competitive racing. She made her debut in Formula Ford, and in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, she competed in Formel ADAC. Last year, Nielsen decided to swap open-wheel formula racing for a GT sports car. “My family has a longstanding connection to Farnbacher Racing,” she explains. “In fact, my father used to drive for Horst Farnbacher’s team. This was the inspiration to try out a Porsche, and I was immediately in my element.” Nielsen was entered by Farnbacher Racing for the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup and this year made the step up to the ADAC GT Masters.

She found her way into motor racing independently of her father, Lars-Erik, who has a successful record in endurance races: “One of my friends took me along to her favourite kart track. I tried out karting for the first time and found that I was faster even than most of the boys. I enjoyed the sport so much that I just knew I wanted to become a racing driver.” Nielsen is now following in her father’s footsteps in GT sports car racing. Her long-term ambition is to one day drive in the Le Mans 24-hour race: “It would be fantastic if I could compete at Le Mans some time in the future. A few years ago, my father had a podium finish in the GT class. It would be a dream come true if I could repeat the feat.”

Nielsen’s debut season in the ADAC GT Masters was an emotional experience for another reason: at the start of the season, her co-driver was fellow countryman Allan Simonsen, but he was fatally injured in a crash at Le Mans in June. The Danish duo had posted the first Gentlemen class victory of the season in the opening race at Oschersleben and had subsequently gone on to make three more podium appearances in successive races. On the way to clinch the championship, Nielsen was partnered by Porsche specialists Marco Seefried, Sean Edwards, Nick Tandy and Kuba Giermaziak. “I started off this season with the intention of winning the ADAC GT Masters class title with Allan as my co-driver. I’ve had to complete that mission without him, but this win is for Allan.”