Danish sportscar standout Christina Nielsen and her teammate, Australian driver James Davison finished 2nd this past weekend at Belle Isle. The duo have been dominant all season long thus far, leading races at Daytona, Sebring and Laguna, and now finishing on the second step of the podium for the second time this year, as done previously at the historic 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year. This places Nielsen and Davison firmly in P2 of the IMSA TUDOR GTD Championship hunt, as well as near the top of the standings in the Patron North American Endurance Cup.
The 100-minute IMSA TUDOR race was full of great racing and an exciting ending around the 2.35 mile circuit. With the tight corners and unforgiving concrete barriers, the race saw some some incredible passes, drag-race style showdowns on the straights, and remarkable racing between the three classes and 23 race cars dicing it up on the track. Nielsen and her co-driver James Davison spent much of the race battling it out for hard-earned positions, ultimately finishing a strong P2. The pair lost the chance at victory following a full-course caution near the end of the race in which race control did not allow enough time for the GTD field to regroup during a yellow flag procedure. This oversight unfortunately allowed the #23 Porsche to be essentially handed the win. Christina and James brought the No. 007 Royal Purple/ORION/La Salle/PassTime USA Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 home in second position, matching their best performance this season at the storied 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year, but not realizing the full potential the machine.
Unfortunately, following the completion of the IMSA TUDOR race and during a torrential downpour, TRG-AMR Team Driver James Davison was just crossing the start/finish line when the car started to hydroplane. While this should have been limited to just an unfortunate post-race mishap on the slippery surface, the gravity of the situation increased exponentially when a safety truck responding to an earlier incident in Turn 1 parked itself on the track (only local yellow was used) directly in the path of the oncoming Davison. More than five cars were eventually included in the pile-up at the end of the front straight, with two of the safety workers being taken to medical, one of them seriously injured and later hospitalized. It goes without saying that the team and all of our crew, drivers, partners, sponsors, and fans wish the injured safety worker a healthy and speedy recovery.