Hilfestellungen » line-up. He has only had two chances to bat

Women have been making inroads in sports car racing for decades, and finally, a female driver has won a major full-season North American championship.Christina Nielsen did it this past weekend at Road Atlanta, where she and co-driver Alessandro Balzan captured the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar GT Daytona (GTD) title in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. The pair entered the season-ending Petite LeMans with a 32-point lead, and Nielsen, a 24-year-old from Denmark, clinched her share of the title when she completed her mandatory three-hour drive time.Since IMSAs birth in 1969, several women have competed in and won races in the series, and Melanie Snow won the abridged, five-race American Le Mans Series GT Challenge (GTC) title in 1969. Other women who have won North America road racing titles in lesser series than Nielsens include Amy Ruman in the SCCA Trans Am Series in 2015 and Margie Smith-Haas in the SCCA Pro American Cities Racing League in 1994.Nielsens title is the first over a full season in a major series. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its four professional classes represent the premier form of sports car racing in North America.One of two women who competed full-time in IMSA this year, along with DeltaWing Prototype driver Katherine Legge, Nielsen won two races this season: the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March and the Sahlens Six Hours of The Glen in July. On Monday, she spoke with espnW about her historic racing accomplishment.You missed the title by two points last year, while driving for The Racers Group (TRG). How much of a focus was it for you?to get it done?this year with Scuderia Corsa?Christina Nielsen: Lets just say we finished last season on the third of October, and it was on my mind the fourth of October. I wanted to go and have another shot at it. In 2015, honestly, I wasnt thinking about the championship. It was my third full season, and I just wanted to see what we could do, and then, suddenly, with a couple of rounds left, we were leading. This year, I knew we were going to be one of the contenders.Your Twitter feed is full of congratulatory posts. What has the reaction been like?CN: The fans have really been great. I really feel like people over here are positive and supportive. Secondly, this has been an amazing paddock to be part of. Like, [competitor] Andy Lally brought me a pair of Ferrari socks. It was a silly thing, but the fact he thought of me, like, Oh, Im going to give these to Christina as a little congrats for the championship meant a lot. And Andrew Davis, whom Ive been racing all year. I often qualified around the same spot as Andrew, so we started together a lot. Weve always had good, clean racing. And he messaged me and said, Congrats, and well done all season, and its been a pleasure to race you -- always hard but fair. It was a great bunch of guys to be surrounded by.What does this title mean for how far women have come in sports car racing?CN:?Im not always crazy about how much attention there is about the fact Im a female, even though -- Im not going to lie -- I do also use it because it allows me to get publicity for our sponsors and the people we work with. I do want to spread the message and say, Hey, women can compete with men on an equal level. We can compete with them and against them, and we can do well in a male-dominated world. Im not trying to get more females into racing in the sense of [recruiting] them because its either in your DNA or it isnt. But I do hope that if there are girls who want to do it, they can look at me and say, If she can do it, I can do it.Sebring was a great win. Was that your biggest accomplishment this season, prior to capturing the championship?CN: Yeah, I would say so. I was in the car when a thunderstorm hit, so I was the one out there when they kept saying, You need to come in and change tires, and Im like, No, Im fine. Im fine. But March seems so long ago. I really like some of these last races weve had because in March I still didnt know the guys as well, and as the season went by, I got to know them better, and everything meant more because I became very close to them and cared a lot for them. Wins are amazing, but we had seven podium [top-three] finishes. There are so many good memories to take away.You stepped it up with fitness this year. How and why?CN: I really worked hard the last couple of months because if they said to me over the radio, Christina, can you do three hours? I wanted to be like, Yup, you got it, boss. Ive been swimming a lot lately. I like it because I dont have the best knees, and it allows you to work with the same muscle groups that you use in the car. We recently started using the stairs in Santa Monica. I live in L.A., and its opened my mind to a lot of new ways to work out because there are so many possibilities with outdoor activities. I also work with a trainer at the gym in the building I live in. We work both the small muscle groups -- like the fingers and wrists -- and the larger muscle groups.Whats next for you? What are your racing aspirations?CN:?I think, as with most drivers, the dream, the goal, would be to get a factory contract one day. Im aiming for something like [IMSA] GT Le Mans. I think theres a pretty good chance Ill stick with Scuderia Corsa next year. Were working out some details, working hard to close the budget gap. I was very happy with them this year. Theyve done a great job, and theyre great people to hang out with. [Co-drivers] Jeff Segal and Alessandro Balzan are just not only good behind the wheel but also good people with good hearts. And so is our team owner, Giacomo Mattioli. I would like to be back in IMSA. I really like racing over here. Fake Curry 6 . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Under Armour Charged Outlet . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. http://www.outletunderarmourstore.com/cheap-curry-2-online.html . Denis Coderre, the former federal MP who was elected mayor on Nov. 3, has drawn the ire of some Montreal Canadiens. During last nights game he tweeted: "Hello? Can we get a one-way ticket to (minor-league) Hamilton for David Desharnais please. Under Armour Fat Tire Shoes For Sale . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Under Armour Shoes Clearance . The Canadian squad, skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, got on the board first with two in the second end, and followed that with two more apiece in the fourth and sixth ends. 9R Ashwin (17 wickets at 23.17, 235 runs at 58.75)Only three players had scored two hundreds and taken two five-wicket hauls in the same series before Ashwin, and the last time it happened was in a series that everyone now calls Bothams Ashes. Ashwins West Indies-India Test series doesnt quite have the same ring to it, but there is no doubting his impact. His bowling, particularly when there was a breeze to aid his drift, was a pleasure to watch, and he showed he is perhaps the best in the world at beating batsmen in the air. He worked hard on his batting in the off-season and he was willing to grind it out for long periods, facing more balls than any other Indian batsman in the series, but its still too early to say if he can bat at No. 6 against better bowling sides. His limited footwork got him into a few tangles with swing and seam, but thats not to say he cannot improve that aspect too.8Mohammed Shami (11 wickets at 25.81)Returning to Test cricket after a year-and-a-halfs gap, Shami showed he wasnt just back to full fitness but also back to his best rhythm. He was Indias best fast bowler in the first two Tests, bowling with pace, making the batsmen play, and troubling them not just with swing and seam but new-found extra bounce as well. By the end of the series, he had bowled more overs than any of his fast-bowling colleagues, suggesting he had become Virat Kohlis go-to quick.Wriddhiman Saha (205 runs at 51.25, 9 catches, 2 stumpings)A joy to watch behind the stumps, Saha came into the series with his batting ability under a bit of scrutiny, particularly with India looking to play five bowlers whenever possible. He did the job he was expected to when he scored 40 and 47 in the first two Tests, but the score when he walked in at St Lucia, 126 for 5, demanded more. A maiden Test hundred followed, and during the innings he showed on two separate occasions - late on day one and in the first session of day two - that he could switch instantly from single-minded defence to flurries of boundary-hitting, even on one of the slowest outfields in the world.Ajinkya Rahane (243 runs at 121.50)Rahane faced 522 balls in the series, and was only dismissed twice. With India dominant through most of the series, he ended up becoming something of a declaration specialist. His hundred at Sabina Park set India up perfectly, leaving them 304 runs ahead with just under half the Test match remaining. That they didnt go on and win had little to do with Rahanes batting and everything to do with the weather, the pitch, stubborn West Indies batting, and a bowling attack that wasnt at its best on the final day. The second-innings 78* in St Lucia, full of hard, cheeky running, hurried India to another declaration, and this time, with far less time remaining, they managed to pull off a dramatic win.7Bhuvneshwar Kumar (6 wickets at 9.83)Bhuvneshwar did not play the first two Tests, but delivered exactly what his team wanted from him - accuracy, new-ball swing in both directions, and the smarts to know how to bowl to which batsman - when called upon in St Lucia, and did all this in his first Test since January 2015. He was unlucky not to win the Player-of-the-Match award for his 5 for 33 in St Lucia, which broke West Indies batting apart and gave India both the lead and the time they needed to force a win with a day lost to rain, and is perhaps unlucky not to get an extra point in our ratings as well.Virat Kohli (251 runs at 62.75)Arriving at the crease with India moving along at under three an over on the first day of the series, Kohli set the tone with a career-best 200 at a strike rate of over 70. It was the innings of a man in stupendous form, but the remainder of the series only brought him 51 runs in three innings, including scores of 3 and 4 in St Lucia, where he batted at No. 3. Its too early to say whether he will be as successful in that role as he has been at No. 4, and equally difficult to say how often he will try it. As captain, he was unpredictable with his selections, unafraid to make bold and sometimes unpopular calls, and never dull.KL Rahul (236 runs at 78.66)Rahul gave India a pounding selection headache when he replaced the injured M Vijay in Jamaica and promptly made a career-best 158. It was an innings that showed he had the strokes to punish wayward bowling and get off to a brisk start, as he did on the first evening; that he had the ability to shelve those strokes against disciplined bowling, as he did on the second morning; and that he had the appetite to keep going even after a troublesome bout of cramps. He followed that with a half-century in St Luciaa, but it was an innings that showed he can still be a fidgety starter, prone to wafting at balls in the channel.dddddddddddd He still has work to do on his catching as well, and put down a couple of chances at third slip in St Lucia.6Ishant Sharma (8 wickets at 32.12)A typically Ishant-esque series. At times, he attacked the stumps, used the short ball well, and looked like the most dangerous bowler in Indias attack. At other times, he struggled to make batsmen play, his line too wide of off stump to test them. There were some wayward spells too, such as the one he bowled post-lunch on the first day in Kingston, where Marlon Samuels took full toll of his long-hops. In the end, he finished with a typically Ishant-esque average - 32.12 - and strike rate - 63.0 - against an average batting side. With the likelihood that India may only play two seamers - and possibly only one - at most times during the long home season ahead, he may have to do better than that to keep his place.Ravindra Jadeja (3 wickets at 15.66)Like Bhuvneshwar, Jadeja might have finished with a better rating had he played more Tests. He did everything expected of him when he replaced Amit Mishra in St Lucia, getting through his overs in a blink and giving away less than two runs an over. But two of his wickets - Roston Chase in the first innings and Jermaine Blackwood in the second - came about in an unfamiliar manner, with the batsmen reaching out to drive slow, loopy balls outside off stump, suggesting he may have learned new tricks as well.5Shikhar Dhawan (138 runs at 34.50)Started the series brightly, showing plenty of self-control outside off stump while scoring 84 in Antigua, but did little of note in the next two Tests, and was left out in Port of Spain. It looks like he will remain on the bench when India begin their long home season, but as a left-handed opener capable of scoring quickly, he will remain in the team managements thoughts.Cheteshwar Pujara (62 runs at 31.00)Only batted twice, weathered testing spells in both innings, and got out to soft dismissals after doing all the hard work. India tend not to lose top-order wickets in clusters when Pujara is part of their line-up, and that solidity cannot be underestimated, but he will remain an in-and-out member of the squad unless he makes bigger scores more consistently than he has done in the last two years.Umesh Yadav (5 wickets at 29.80)Five wickets in Antigua, where he swung the ball both ways and looked menacing in short, sharp bursts. None in Jamaica, where his bowling was wayward in both innings, particularly with the second new ball on the final day, which was Indias last chance to get through West Indies lower order and force a win. Bhuvneshwar Kumars accuracy suddenly looked more enticing than Umeshs pace, and he lost his place in St Lucia. Given the competition for fast-bowling slots and the potential narrowing of the available slots in home conditions, Umesh will need to do more to remain a first-team regular.4Amit Mishra (6 wickets at 38.66)Sometimes, Mishras figures dont reflect how well he has bowled, and there were times during the first Test and in the first innings of the second - when he bowled a classical spell of drift and turn - when this was the case. But on the final day in Kingston, he actually bowled poorly, sending down a regular allotment of full-tosses and half-volleys, and contributed to Indias worst bowling day of the tour. Having begun the series with his captains backing to do a more attacking job than Ravindra Jadeja in less spin-friendly conditions, he ended up losing a place in the pecking order.Rohit Sharma (50 runs at 25.00)There is some truth to Kohlis assertion that Rohit hasnt got a long-enough run in the Test side to establish himself properly, but there is also truth to the idea that he hasnt done enough with the chances hes got. His selection in St Lucia came out of the blue, and caused all manner of reshuffling in Indias line-up. He has only had two chances to bat since then, so its a little too early to say whether or not the move has worked.M Vijay (7 runs at 7.00)Batted once, got out to a snorter, hurt his finger in the process, and did not get to bat again. A strange sort of series for Indias best opener over the last three years. Having been left out in St Lucia despite regaining full fitness, Vijay came back in Port of Spain, at Dhawans expense. India look likely to start their home season with a Vijay-Rahul combination at the top of the order. ' ' '