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IndyCar
INDYCAR: HVM Signs Simona De Silvestro
Simona De Silvestro will be confirmed as a full-time driver for Keith Wiggins’ Stargate Worlds/HVM team on Tuesday.
De Silvestro will carry her Atlantic backing from Stargate Worlds into the IZOD IndyCar Series with HVM Racing. (LAT)
IndyCar racing already has something that NASCAR craves, a major female draw, and now it appears there may also be a nice rivalry brewing among the girls in the IZOD-sponsored series.
Simona De Silvestro will be confirmed as a full-time driver for Keith Wiggins’ Stargate Worlds/HVM team on Tuesday to join Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and likely Milka Duno in the 2010 lineup.
Fisher and Patrick had a pretty good dice at Kentucky last year but Sarah has very little road racing experience and is only running nine shows this season while Duno labors just about everywhere.
And nobody is expecting De Silvestro to keep up with Danica on the ovals.
But, based on last week’s open test at Barber Motorsports Course, the 21-year-old native of Switzerland certainly looks equipped to battle Patrick on the road courses and street circuits.
“I have never raced against another woman because I was always the only one in whatever series I was in,” said De Silvestro, who followed Patrick’s path to Indy cars through the Formula Atlantic series and almost won the 2009 championship.
“And I’ve heard Danica say it doesn’t matter what your gender is when you put on your helmet and I feel the same way but I also understand that’s it probably going to be part of the storyline and that’s cool.”
After struggling in her first official open test day of driving an Indy car, De Silvestro made some nice gains on Day 2 in Alabama and wound up three-tenths of a second quicker than Patrick’s best lap.
“Coming from last year when I won four races, four poles and almost got the title, it was a little weird being so far off that first day,” she said. “But I was pretty happy after the second day because I started to understand the car a bit better.
“Obviously, I’ve got a lot of work in front of me because I’ve never raced on an oval but I’ve got a good team and I think we can have a good season.”
The good news is that longtime manager Imran Safiulla has secured sponsorship for all 17 races and Simona will have one of the best engineers (Michael Cannon) in the paddock and an owner who always gets the most out of a small budget.
“From the first test, we knew she could drive and the longer we work with her, the more she impresses us,” said Wiggins, who will not be running Robert Doornbos as expected due to lack of funding from the ex-Formula One driver.
“The only other time I had a girl drive one of my cars was back in the mid-80s in the Formula Ford 2000 series but I can’t even remember her name. I think people are going to take notice of Simona.”
The bad news is that she’s a rookie on a one-car team but Wiggins is hopeful of adding a veteran in a second car following the season opener in Brazil.
Safiulla, an industrialist from Bangalore, India who was an investor in the Fittipaldi/Dingman team in Champ Car in 2003 and was partnered with Shane Seneviratne’s Atlantic outfit in 2009, decided to help De Silvestro following a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2006.
“She was running in the Formula BMW series and she wound up on the podium in both races,” he recalled. “I was impressed and then I was approached to invest in her by her family and we’ve been together ever since.
“I think she’s going to open a lot of eyes.”
Simona De Silvestro will be confirmed as a full-time driver for Keith Wiggins’ Stargate Worlds/HVM team on Tuesday to join Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and likely Milka Duno in the 2010 lineup.
Fisher and Patrick had a pretty good dice at Kentucky last year but Sarah has very little road racing experience and is only running nine shows this season while Duno labors just about everywhere.
And nobody is expecting De Silvestro to keep up with Danica on the ovals.
But, based on last week’s open test at Barber Motorsports Course, the 21-year-old native of Switzerland certainly looks equipped to battle Patrick on the road courses and street circuits.
“I have never raced against another woman because I was always the only one in whatever series I was in,” said De Silvestro, who followed Patrick’s path to Indy cars through the Formula Atlantic series and almost won the 2009 championship.
“And I’ve heard Danica say it doesn’t matter what your gender is when you put on your helmet and I feel the same way but I also understand that’s it probably going to be part of the storyline and that’s cool.”
After struggling in her first official open test day of driving an Indy car, De Silvestro made some nice gains on Day 2 in Alabama and wound up three-tenths of a second quicker than Patrick’s best lap.
“Coming from last year when I won four races, four poles and almost got the title, it was a little weird being so far off that first day,” she said. “But I was pretty happy after the second day because I started to understand the car a bit better.
“Obviously, I’ve got a lot of work in front of me because I’ve never raced on an oval but I’ve got a good team and I think we can have a good season.”
The good news is that longtime manager Imran Safiulla has secured sponsorship for all 17 races and Simona will have one of the best engineers (Michael Cannon) in the paddock and an owner who always gets the most out of a small budget.
“From the first test, we knew she could drive and the longer we work with her, the more she impresses us,” said Wiggins, who will not be running Robert Doornbos as expected due to lack of funding from the ex-Formula One driver.
“The only other time I had a girl drive one of my cars was back in the mid-80s in the Formula Ford 2000 series but I can’t even remember her name. I think people are going to take notice of Simona.”
The bad news is that she’s a rookie on a one-car team but Wiggins is hopeful of adding a veteran in a second car following the season opener in Brazil.
Safiulla, an industrialist from Bangalore, India who was an investor in the Fittipaldi/Dingman team in Champ Car in 2003 and was partnered with Shane Seneviratne’s Atlantic outfit in 2009, decided to help De Silvestro following a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2006.
“She was running in the Formula BMW series and she wound up on the podium in both races,” he recalled. “I was impressed and then I was approached to invest in her by her family and we’ve been together ever since.
“I think she’s going to open a lot of eyes.”
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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