Simona de Silvestro may be switching to Australian Supercars
Simona de Silvestro, 27, may be making the switch to Australian Supercars.
The Swiss racing driver just finished up her first full season in the FIA Formula E championship, where she became the first female driver to score points in that series. However, De Silvestro could only manage 18th in the points, and she has been dropped for next season by Andretti in favor of Antonio Felix da Costa.
So, the “Iron Maiden” looks like she might be set for another career change, having already spent time behind the wheel in IndyCar - where she placed as high as second - and Formula One - where she was a test driver for the Sauber F1 Team.
De Silvestro has made a start in Supercars before too, having finished 21st at the 2015 Bathurst 1000 after Renee Gracie collected the wall in their car early on. De Silvestro and Gracie - together making up the Harvey Norman Supergirls - will return to Mount Panorama this October in hopes to improve on last year’s performance.
“It is the same program we had last year, so I think everything will be pretty similar,” De Silvestro told supercars.com. “Last year everything was pretty new, and I had never been to Australia before so it was very overwhelming. This time it feels more at home with Renee. I’ve learned a lot with how she was driving last year and I think we can build on that and work on the car this year.”
However, De Silvestro may not stop there. Indeed, according to supercars.com, she is considering a full-time drive in the 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - which would make her the first female driver to do so in over 40 years.
“I’ve had a tough year in Formula E right now and I’m definitely looking at all the options that there is out there,” said De Silvestro. “Supercars – I really enjoyed Bathurst last year, it’s definitely something to look at. There’s the support of Harvey Norman also and the female action is quite important.
“Right now there’s no decisions made, the racing is a lot of fun here and as a race car driver that’s what you look for, and going full tilt all the time.
“So who knows. Maybe. I don’t know yet.”
