SEBRING, Fla.—Tristan Nunez, the 17-year-old racing phenomenon from Boca Raton Florida, drove in his second professional endurance race Saturday, and he finished third in class; quite an accomplishment for any driver at any level.
Tristan Nunez accomplished the feat racing at the very highest level.
That a teenage driver could step into a 500-hp Prototype Challenge car and take third at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the most prestigious and important endurance race in North America, while racing against the best in the world, is an achievement difficult to imagine. The was Tristan’s first race in the car, and he was facing (among others) the two-time class champions and the 2011 and 2012 Sebring class winners.
Let loose among the veterans, this Sebring rookie driving in his first ALMS race proved that he has the pace and the stamina to compete with the world’s best.
Nunez, partnered with Charlie Shears and David Heinemeier Hansson, drove the #500 Performance Tech Viva 500 Visit Florida Oreca-Chevrolet, numbered in honor of the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon visiting the state. Without that sponsorship, Nunez would have been watching the race on television. Instead, he and his co-drivers got Performance Tech the team’s best Sebring finish by far.
“The Performance Tech Motorsports crew did a perfect job of setting up the car,” Nunez said in an email. “The car was extremely comfortable to drive for a long period of time, which is key in endurance racing.”
