24h Le Mans
Thursday evening during the Dansk Motorsport Award ceremony in Denmark, three drivers who competed at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, and who will be at the start of this year's edition, were given awards: the first female Danish driver at Le Mans, Christina Nielsen, and the duo of official Aston Martin drivers, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen.
The day the Automobile Club de l'Ouest released the list of 60 invitees to the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three of the drivers on the list were presented awards for their performances during the 2016 season. Christina Nielsen - who finished sixth in the LM GTE Am class in her first participation and who is the first woman to win in the GTD class in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - received the trophy for Circuit Driver of the Year. The Danish driver will return to Le Mans in 2017 in one of the two Ferrari 488 GTEs entered by American team Scuderia Corsa in LM GTE Am, the class she won last year.
Christina Nielsen was unable to attend the ceremony, so her father Lars Erik, who crossed the 24 Hours of Le Mans finish line five times in GT between 2004 and 2008, accepted the award on her behalf.
Like Christina Nielsen, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen, who finished fifth in the LM GTE Pro class at Le Mans in 2016, will once again take the start at the 24 Hours after being rehired by Aston Martin to share the wheel of the #95 Vantage. The award for Danish Driver of the Year was given to the "Dane Train" who won the FIA Endurance LM GTE Drivers Trophy in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) last year.
Photo: Marco Sørensen (center) and Nicki Thiim (at right) at Scrutineering for the 2015 24 Hours with their teammate Darren Turner being interviewed by Le Mans commentators Bruno Vandestick and David Waldron.
