Simona de Silvestro

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Simona de Silvestro
Simona de Silvestro 2010 Indy 500 OWAS.JPG
Simona de Silvestro in May 2010.
Nationality Swiss
Born (1988-09-01) 1 September 1988 (age 35)
Thun, Switzerland
IndyCar Series career
Debut season 2010
Current team Andretti Autosport
Car no. 25
Former teams HVM Racing
KV Racing Technology
Starts 69
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 1
Best finish 13th in 2013
Previous series
2014–15
2007–09
2006
2005		 Formula E
Atlantic Championship
Formula BMW USA
Formula Renault 2.0 Italia
Awards
2010 Tony Renna Rising Star Award
Formula E career
Debut season 2014–15
Current team Amlin Andretti
Car no. 27
Starts 5
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 0
Best finish 27th in 2014–15
Finished last season 27th

Simona de Silvestro (born 1 September 1988) is a Swiss race car driver. She currently drives for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. Her nickname is the "Iron Maiden".[1]

Racing career

De Silvestro at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2010

She raced for Newman Wachs Racing's Nuclear Clean Air Energy-Entergy team in the Atlantic Championship in 2008 and for Team Stargate Worlds in 2009. She won the Atlantic race at the 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach,[2] making her the second woman to win in that series – after Katherine Legge – and providing NWR with its first win. She won four times during the 2009 season and led in points for most of the season, but ultimately finished third in the standings after retiring on the first lap during the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

De Silvestro participated in an IndyCar Series test over 8–9 December 2009 at Sebring International Raceway, a joint effort between HVM Racing and Team Stargate Worlds.[3]

2010

De Silvestro competed full-time in the IndyCar Series for HVM Racing for the 2010 season. On 22 May 2010, she qualified in the 22nd position for the 2010 Indianapolis 500. She finished the race in 14th position, and earned Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors. She suffered a burned right hand after a fiery crash at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway on 5 June 2010. Her team strongly criticized IndyCar Series safety officials for their response to that accident.[4] For the season, de Silvestro started 17 races, finished ten, and recorded two top-10 finishes, with a best finish of eighth at Mid-Ohio. She finished 19th overall in the series standings and was runner-up to Alex Lloyd for rookie of the year honors.

2011

The 2011 season began with fourth- and ninth-place finishes at St. Petersburg and Barber; however the next race, at Long Beach, was not as successful: she started 18th and finished 20th. At the next race, the São Paulo Indy 300, an accident between her and Hélio Castroneves put her nine laps down, after the race was postponed to the next morning due to severe rain conditions. She also received criticism from broadcasters during the race as she raced hard against the leaders even when she was several laps down, rather than letting them pass. She started 13th and finished 20th, nine laps down, but recorded the fastest lap of the race.

She received second degree burns on her right hand and superficial burns on her left hand in a crash during practice for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 on 19 May.[5] The crash, which sent her car sailing into the catch fence before flipping and landing on its left tires, was caused by a mechanical failure in the left rear of her No. 78 Dallara-Honda. On 21 May, using her backup car, she qualified 24th for the race with a four-lap average of 224.392 mph.

After a crash at the Milwaukee Mile during qualifying, de Silvestro was cleared to drive in the race. but withdrew after experiencing dizziness and impaired vision. At the next race, in Iowa, she was not cleared to compete, due to continuing dizziness.[6]

De Silvestro missed round 13 of the season at Sonoma, after being refused entry to the United States. An agent working for US Customs became concerned over frequent trips from country to country that de Silvestro had been taking, and when de Silvestro tried to explain herself, the official refused to believe that the woman was a professional racer.[7] She finished 20th overall in the 2011 series standings.

2012

De Silvestro at the 2012 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix

De Silvestro returned to HVM Racing for the 2012 IndyCar Series season, piloting the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsored Dallara-Lotus. The entry was one of five cars to start the season powered by the new Lotus engine. The Lotus proved to be significantly underpowered compared to the Chevrolet and Honda engines used by the rest of the field. By the end of May, all entrants other than de Silvestro's No. 78 had abandoned the Lotus powerplant and switched to either Chevy or Honda. De Silvestro was saddled for the entire season with the inferior Lotus. The underpowered engine made it impossible for de Silvestro to be competitive, resulting in consistently poor qualifying and race results. On several occasions the car was black flagged for failing to maintain the minimum safe speed, including the 2012 Indianapolis 500. For the season, de Silvestro qualified for all 15 races on the schedule, started 14, and finished 6. Her best finish was 14th at Detroit and Iowa. She finished 24th overall in the series standings.

2013

On 30 October 2012, de Silvestro signed on with KV Racing Technology for the 2013 IndyCar Series season, driving the No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet with sponsorship from Nuclear Clean Air Energy. De Silvestro joined veteran driver Tony Kanaan to make KV Racing Technology a two-car team for the 2013 season.[8] On 5 October 2013 at the Grand Prix of Houston, de Silvestro finished second in the first race for her first podium finish, joining Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher as the only women in IndyCar history to record a podium finish.[9]

2014

Sauber

In February 2014, Formula One team Sauber announced that de Silvestro would join the team as an "affiliated driver" and would undergo a year-long training programme with the team, with the ultimate objective of racing in 2015.[10] De Silvestro began testing with the team at the end of April 2014 at Fiorano Circuit.[11] She had her first drive in the 2012 Sauber on 26 April, and completed 112 laps during the test.[12] However, in October 2014, Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn stated that the team had suspended de Silvestro's driving chances due to contractual troubles.[13]

2015

De Silvestro at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

On 2 April 2015, de Silvestro announced she would drive the Andretti Autosport No. 29 Honda in the 2015 IndyCar Series season in an attempt to make the Indianapolis 500.[14] De Silvestro finished fourth in the second race of the season, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana.

On 15 June 2015, it was announced de Silvestro would drive for Andretti's Formula E team at the championship's double-header finale in London.[15] She will compete with the team full time in the 2015-16 season opposite Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frijns.

It was announced on 19 August that she would partner Renee Gracie at Prodrive Racing Australia in the Bathurst 1000 for V8 Supercars.[16] Following an impact with the wall at Forrest's Elbow on lap 15 for Gracie, the car underwent extensive repairs before being sent back out to finish 21st and 40 laps down - one more lap lost and they would not have been classified.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/laps Points Position
2005 Formula Renault 2.0 Italy Cram Competition 17 0 0 0 16 20th
2006 Formula BMW USA EuroInternational 14 1 0 2 113 4th
2007 Champ Car Atlantic Walker Racing 12 0 0 0 69 19th
2008 Atlantic Championship Newman Wachs Racing 11 1 0 0 167 8th
2009 Atlantic Championship Team Stargate Worlds 12 4 4 1 176 3rd
2010 IZOD IndyCar Series HVM Racing 17 0 0 0 242 19th
2011 IZOD IndyCar Series HVM Racing 15 0 0 1 225 20th
2012 IZOD IndyCar Series HVM Racing 14 0 0 0 182 24th
2013 IZOD IndyCar Series KV Racing Technology 19 0 0 0 362 13th
2014 FIA Formula One World Championship Sauber F1 Team Affiliated driver
2014–15 Formula E Andretti Autosport 2 0 0 0 0 27th
2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Andretti Autosport 3 0 0 0 66 30th
2015–16 Formula E Amlin Andretti 3 0 0 0 0 17th*

* Season still in progress.

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship/Champ Car Atlantic

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points
2007 Walker Racing LVG
17		 LBH
28		 HOU
15		 POR1
16		 POR2
16		 CLE
11		 MTT
7		 TOR
18		 EDM1
13		 EDM2
22		 SJO
10		 ROA
22		 19th 69
2008 Newman Wachs Racing LBH
1		 LS
10		 MTT
9		 EDM1
8		 EDM2
19		 ROA1
9		 ROA2
18		 TRR
4		 NJ
11		 UTA
5		 ATL
4		 8th 167
2009 Team Stargate Worlds SEB
5		 UTA
1		 NJ1
2		 NJ2
1		 LIM
1		 ACC1
3		 ACC2
2		 MDO
2		 TRR
1		 MOS
10		 ATL
2		 LS
10		 3rd 176
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(non-win)*		 Top 10s
(non-podium)**		 Championships
3 3 35 4 5 5 10 0
* Podium (non-win) indicates second and third place finishes
** Top 10s (non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes

IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series results
Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points
2010 HVM Racing Dallara Honda SAO
16		 STP
16		 ALA
21		 LBH
17		 KAN
21		 INDY
14		 TXS
24		 IOW
21		 WGL
24		 TOR
9		 EDM
22		 MDO
8		 SNM
13		 CHI
23		 KTY
25		 MOT
23		 HMS
23		 19th 242
2011 STP
4		 ALA
9		 LBH
20		 SAO
20		 INDY
31		 TXS
26		 TXS
27		 MIL
25		 IOW
DNS		 TOR
10		 EDM
24		 MDO
12		 NHM
16		 SNM BAL
12		 MOT
14		 KTY
25		 LVS1
C		 20th 225
2012 Lotus-HVM Racing Dallara DW12 Lotus STP
24		 ALA
20		 LBH
20		 SAO
24		 INDY
32		 DET
14		 TXS
DNS		 MIL
24		 IOW
14		 TOR
24		 EDM
23		 MDO
23		 SNM
17		 BAL
22		 FON
26		 24th 182
2013 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet STP
6		 ALA
18		 LBH
9		 SAO
8		 INDY
17		 DET
16		 DET
24		 TXS
16		 MIL
24		 IOW
21		 POC
11		 TOR
10		 TOR
14		 MDO
11		 SNM
9		 BAL
5		 HOU
2		 HOU
10		 FON
8		 13th 362
2015 Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12 Honda STP
18		 NLA
4		 LBH ALA IMS INDY
19		 DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM 30th 66

* Season still in progress.

1 The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Top 5s Top 10s Indianapolis 500
Wins		 Championships
5 3 69 0 0 4 15 0 0

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team
2010 Dallara Honda 22 14 HVM Racing
2011 Dallara Honda 24 31 HVM Racing
2012 Dallara Lotus 32 32 Lotus-HVM Racing
2013 Dallara Chevrolet 24 17 KV Racing Technology
2015 Dallara Honda 19 19 Andretti Autosport

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points
2014–15 Andretti Autosport Spark-Renault SRT 01E BEI PUT PDE BNA MIA LBH MON BER MOS LON
11		 LON
12		 27th 0
2015–16 Amlin Andretti Spark-McLaren BEI
Ret		 PUT
13		 PDE
11		 BNA
 MEX
 LBH
 PAR
 BER
 MOS
 LON
 LON
 17th* 0*

* Season still in progress.

References

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  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Indianapolis 500
Rookie of the Year
2010		 Succeeded by
J. R. Hildebrand
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