Simona de Silvestro

Simona de Silvestro (born 1 September 1988) is a Swiss racing driver, who is currently employed by Porsche as a factory driver. She has previously driven for Amlin Andretti in the 2015/16 season of the FIA Formula E Championship as well as several years competing in the IndyCar Series. Her nicknames are the "Iron Maiden" and "Swiss Miss."[1]

Simona de Silvestro
Simona de Silvestro in May 2010
Nationality Swiss
Born1 September 1988 (1988-09) (age 32)
Thun, Switzerland
Supercars Record
Series championships0
Races89
Race wins0
Podium finishes0
Pole positions0
2019 Championship position19th (1564 pts)

Racing career

Junior formulae

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]

IndyCar

De Silvestro at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2010
De Silvestro at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

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.

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. She finished 20th overall in the 2011 series standings.

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.

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.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] De Silvestro finished fourth in the second race of the season, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana.

Formula One

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]

Formula E

De Silvestro at the 2016 Paris ePrix

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.[14] She was confirmed with the team full-time for the 2015-16 season opposite Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frijns.

In 2016, de Silvestro became the first female driver to score points in Formula E with a 9th place in the 2016 Long Beach ePrix.[15] She finished the championship in 18th place with 4 points.

V8 Supercars

It was announced on 19 August 2015 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 the car would not have been classified.

On 5 September 2016 it was announced that she had signed a three-year contract as a full-time driver for Nissan Motorsport in the Australian Supercars Championship, beginning from the 2017 Series.[17][18][19] This followed another appearance at Bathurst alongside Gracie, this time with the Nissan squad, where the pair managed to stay out of trouble amid the chaotic final laps and finish in 14th place and two laps down.

GT3

In 2020, De Silvestro returned to Europe as a factory Porsche GT driver; contesting the 2020 ADAC GT Masters championship with junior driver Klaus Bachler.[20] She finished 23rd in the championship with 41 points.

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 IndyCar Series HVM Racing 17 0 0 0 242 19th
2011 IndyCar Series HVM Racing 15 0 0 1 225 20th
2012 IndyCar Series HVM Racing 14 0 0 0 182 24th
2013 IndyCar Series KV Racing Technology 19 0 0 0 362 13th
2014 Formula One Sauber F1 Team Affiliated driver
2014–15 Formula E Andretti Autosport 2 0 0 0 0 27th
2015 IndyCar Series Andretti Autosport 3 0 0 0 66 30th
International V8 Supercars Championship Prodrive Racing Australia 1 0 0 0 84 54th
2015–16 Formula E Amlin Andretti 10 0 0 0 4 18th
2016 International V8 Supercars Championship Nissan Motorsport 1 0 0 0 126 50th
2017 Supercars Championship Nissan Motorsport 26 0 0 0 1131 24th
2018 Supercars Championship Nissan Motorsport 31 0 0 0 1323 23rd
2019 Supercars Championship Kelly Racing 31 0 0 0 1564 19th
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTD Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing 1 0 0 0 19 58th
2020 ADAC GT Masters KÜS Team75 Bernhard 10 0 0 0 41 23rd
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Rowe Racing 1 0 0 0 0 NC†

As de Silvestro was a guest driver, she was ineligible to score points.

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 Honda STP
18
NLA
4
LBH ALA IMS INDY
19
DET DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM 30th 66
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 Chassis Powertrain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points
2014–15 Andretti Autosport Spark SRT01-e SRT01-e BEI PUT PDE BUE MIA LBH MCO BER MSC LON
11
LON
12
27th 0
2015–16 Amlin Andretti Spark SRT01-e SRT01-e BEI
Ret
PUT
13
PDE
11
BUE
14
MEX
14
LBH
9
PAR
15
BER
9
LON
14
LON
Ret
18th 4

Complete Supercars Championship results

Supercars results
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Position Points
2015 Prodrive Racing Australia Ford FG X Falcon ADE
R1
ADE
R2
ADE
R3
SYM
R4
SYM
R5
SYM
R6
BAR
R7
BAR
R8
BAR
R9
WIN
R10
WIN
R11
WIN
R12
HID
R13
HID
R14
HID
R15
TOW
R16
TOW
R17
QLD
R18
QLD
R19
QLD
R20
SMP
R21
SMP
R22
SMP
R23
SAN
R24
BAT
R25

21
SUR
R26
SUR
R27
PUK
R28
PUK
R29
PUK
R30
PHI
R31
PHI
R32
PHI
R33
SYD
R34
SYD
R35
SYD
R36
54th 84
2016 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 ADE
R1
ADE
R2
ADE
R3
SYM
R4
SYM
R5
PHI
R6
PHI
R7
BAR
R8
BAR
R9
WIN
R10
WIN
R11
HID
R12
HID
R13
HID
R14
TOW
R15
QLD
R16
QLD
R17
SMP
R18
SMP
R19
SAN
R20
BAT
R21

14
SUR
R22
SUR
R23
PUK
R24
PUK
R25
PUK
R26
PUK
R27
SYD
R28
SYD
R29
50th 126
2017 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 ADE
R1

20
ADE
R2

23
SYM
R3

15
SYM
R4

15
PHI
R5

13
PHI
R6

13
BAR
R7

23
BAR
R8

25
WIN
R9

23
WIN
R10

20
HID
R11

20
HID
R12

28
TOW
R13

18
TOW
R14

23
QLD
R15

27
QLD
R16

19
SMP
R17

19
SMP
R18

23
SAN
Q

22
SAN
R19

18
BAT
R20

Ret
SUR
R21

16
SUR
R22

23
PUK
R23

18
PUK
R24

17
NEW
R25

20
NEW
R26

17
24th 1131
2018 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 ADE
R1

18
ADE
R2

18
MEL
R3

Ret
MEL
R4

23
MEL
R5

23
MEL
R6

16
SYM
R7

23
SYM
R8

21
PHI
R9

24
PHI
R10

22
BAR
R11

15
BAR
R12

12
WIN
R13

22
WIN
R14

23
HID
R15

22
HID
R16

17
TOW
R17

25
TOW
R18

22
QLD
R19

19
QLD
R20

20
SMP
R21

14
BEN
R22

23
BEN
R23

23
SAN
QR

22
SAN
R24

Ret
BAT
R25

14
SUR
R26

18
SUR
R27

C
PUK
R28

21
PUK
R29

18
NEW
R30

10
NEW
R31

24
23rd 1323
2019 Kelly Racing Nissan Altima L33 ADE
R1

15
ADE
R2

16
MEL
R3

18
MEL
R4

19
MEL
R5

17
MEL
R6

21
SYM
R7

21
SYM
R8

21
PHI
R9

15
PHI
R10

18
BAR
R11

12
BAR
R12

12
WIN
R13

23
WIN
R14

23
HID
R15

19
HID
R16

20
TOW
R17

19
TOW
R18

10
QLD
R19

18
QLD
R20

19
BEN
R21

Ret
BEN
R22

22
PUK
R23

16
PUK
R24

7
BAT
R25

13
SUR
R26

21
SUR
R27

22
SAN
QR

12
SAN
R28

15
NEW
R29

19
NEW
R30

18
19th 1564
De Silvestro at the 2018 Newcastle 500

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Car Co-driver Position Laps
2015 Prodrive Racing Australia Ford Falcon FG X Renee Gracie 21st 121
2016 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 Renee Gracie 14th 159
2017 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 David Russell DNF 152
2018 Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima L33 Alex Rullo 14th 161
2019 Kelly Racing Nissan Altima L33 Alex Rullo 13th 160

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2019 Heinricher Racing with Meyer Shank Racing GTD Acura NSX GT3 Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6 DAY
12
SEB MDO DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET 58th 42

References

  1. Pruett, Marshall (21 June 2011). "INDYCAR: Milwaukee Rewind". speedtv.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  2. Lewandowski, Dave (20 April 2013). "De Silvestro recalls Long Beach win". IndyCar Series. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  3. "De Silvestro to test for HVM Racing". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  4. Bradley, Charles (6 June 2010). "HVM criticises safety crew over fire". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  5. "De Silvestro in massive Indy crash". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  6. "De Silvestro fails Iowa medical evaluation". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  7. "Simona de Silvestro to drive No. 78". ESPN.com. ESPN Inc. Associated Press. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  8. "Simona joins Patrick, Fisher as podium finishers". Boston Herald. Patrick J. Purcell, Herald Media Inc. Associated Press. 6 October 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  9. Lewandowski, Dave (2 April 2015). "Technology company connects with the '500'". IndyCar Series. IndyCar. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  10. "Sauber names De Silvestro 'affiliated driver' for 2014". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  11. "Sauber's female driver to make F1 test debut". Motorsport. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  12. "Simona de Silvestro completes first day of F1 testing". USA Today. Gannett Company. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  13. Anderson, Ben (2 October 2014). "Sauber F1 team says it had no choice on Simona de Silvestro". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  14. DeGroot, Nick (15 June 2015). "Simona de Silvestro to run London ePrix for Andretti". motorsport.com. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  15. Samuel Reiman. "De Silvestro becomes first female driver to score points in Formula E". FOX Sports.
  16. "GRACIE/DE SILVESTRO TO SHARE BATHURST WILDCARD". speedcafe.com. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  17. "Simona De Silvestro signs Supercars deal". SBS News.
  18. https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/motorsport/simona-de-silvestro-signs-supercars-deal/ar-AAixeZi
  19. http://simonadesilvestro.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/06-09-16-MR-Simona-Signs-with-Supercars.pdf
  20. "De Silvestro Set for Porsche GT Debut". Sportscar365. 7 December 2019.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Alex Tagliani
Indianapolis 500
Rookie of the Year

2010
Succeeded by
J. R. Hildebrand
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