BATAVIA, Ohio – Wright Motorsports will return to endurance competition next year with a full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entry.
Sharing the seat of a GT Daytona class Porsche 911 GT3 R will be reigning two-time GTD champion Christina Nielsen and Porsche factory driver Patrick Long.
“I am very pleased to have this great opportunity come together in such a short time. It is a tremendous opportunity to be heading back into the endurance racing arena with such a strong program. In my experience, I haven’t seen too many driver combinations better to compete for a championship then what I think we will see in Patrick Long and Christina Nielsen,” said Wright Motorsports Principal John Wright.
“I’m also very happy to have Patrick back for the 2018 season,” continued Wright. “Coming off this year’s championships, our momentum could not be stronger than it is now. I am looking forward to working with Christina and seeing her back behind the wheel of a Porsche. We have tried to make something happen in the past, but due to different circumstances we were never able to pull anything together. The stars have aligned to make it possible for this year and hopefully years to come.”
Entering her fourth full season in the WeatherTech Championship, Nielsen will join the Ohio-based team as the back-to-back GTD class champion (2016 and 2017) with Ferrari. At just 25 years old, the highly-accomplished Dane holds the title as the first woman to win a major sports car championship in the United States.
While she has seen success racing with a variety of manufacturers, next year will mark a return home for Nielsen, who carries a deep bench of Porsche experience. From the start of her sports car racing career, Nielsen has driven under the Porsche marque in competition across the globe. Her resume includes stops in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, the ADAC GT Masters, the GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge USA, and select IMSA WeatherTech Championship races in 2014.
“I am really looking forward to being back in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve come up with such a strong combination with Wright Motorsports and Porsche,” said Nielsen. “I’ve had a great run for the last three years, but it won’t be easy to do what I’ve already done. For me the biggest thing is to go into 2018 without relying on any previous results. We’ll start from scratch beginning with Daytona and go from there.”
No stranger to Wright Motorsports, Long will be entering his third consecutive season with the group. Still fresh off of his 2017 Pirelli World Challenge championships with the John Wright-led team, the Californian has proven to be tremendously competitive in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The 2018 season however, is where his endurance experience will shine.
In his fifteen years as America’s only Porsche factory driver, Long has seen victories at some the world’s most prestigious endurance events including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Bathurst 12 Hour, the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Petit Le Mans.
“I am thrilled to continue my journey with Wright Motorsports for the 2018 season,” Long said. “We will have our work cut out for us starting the season with two of the biggest international endurance races in sports car racing, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, but I am confident in the group’s ability. Christina has been on an amazing run with her two titles over the last two years and I want to blend that momentum with our 2017 title and aim for victories right out of the box. I’m very excited to get things started at Daytona.”
Source : speedsport.com
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