Bia Figueiredo has been reunited with Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Twelve Hours of Sebring this weekend. They climb behind the wheel of the No. 88 Richard Mille Porsche 911 GT3 R with Team Hardpoint.
This marks Figueiredo’s return to the series for the first time since 2019 when she competed in six of 12 IMSA events including the Twelve Hours of Sebring. This also reunites Figueiredo with Legge and Nielsen after the trio shared a ride in endurance races that season.
One of their races together came in the 12 Hours of Sebring, where they finished eighth in class and 26th overall. Their best IMSA finish that year was a fourth in class at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen.
In 2008 and 2009, Figueiredo raced in the Indy Lights Series, where she won twice: at Nashville Superspeedway in 2008 and Iowa Speedway in 2009. From 2010 through 2013 she competed in 29 NTT IndyCar events, scoring a best finish of 11th at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
After spending several seasons racing stock cars in her native Brazil, Figueiredo made her return to the States with the 2019 IMSA stint.
“I can’t express how excited I am to be back to race in IMSA with Katherine and Christina driving for Team Hardpoint EBM,” Figueiredo said in a release. “My birthday is March 18, so being back in IMSA is the best gift for me. My 2019 experience in the series were one of the best of my career. I really enjoyed it.
“Sebring is a challenging track with the bumps but is really fun to drive.”
Last year the COVID-19 pandemic forced IMSA to push the Twelve Hours of Sebring into November with Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Ryan Hunter-Reay behind the winning wheel of the Mazda Motorsports No. 55.
TEAM HARDPOINT ADDS SECOND TEAM: Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen behind the wheel
Figueiredo celebrates her 36th birthday at the track as activities began for the Twelve Hours of Sebring on Thursday, March 18 with three practice sessions including the always dramatic session under the lights.
The Twelve Hours of Sebring can be watched flag to flag on the NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold beginning at 10:05 a.m., Saturday, March 20.
Click here for a complete schedule of events.
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