Driven Simona on track for success
TINY errors are all that is holding back Simona De Silvestro from surging up the Supercars pecking order.
The Swiss 28-year-old has proven a trailblazer for aspiring female Supercars drivers since signing a three-year deal with Nissan Motorsport to be pitted against stars including six-time champion Jamie Whincup.
Having previously raced in IndyCar and Formula E, she has impressed many in her rookie season – especially considering how tough other international aces have found the transition.
But after taking a pair of 13th place finishes in a chaotic Phillip Island round in April, De Silvestro has slipped back towards the rear of the field.
That has been of zero concern to team boss Todd Kelly, whose standing as a teammate gives him an even better understanding of how the “Iron Maiden” is fairing.
“It’s tough for her to be learning so much so fast in probably the most competitive category on the planet but she has done everything
that we could have hoped for to date,” Kelly said.
“(In Ipswich) she had a really good battle and genuine fight with some decent cars there and really held her own which was impressive to see.”
Kelly, a 19-time race winner, said De Silvestro does not need to change much.
“All the data that we look at at every single track that we have been to, she is really 100 per cent on the money nine out of 10 corners most of the time,” he said.
“It is only one or two little spots where she loses just a whisker and that’s enough to put you nowhere.”
While she has been on the wrong end of a qualifying deficit compared to teammates, she has done well to keep her nose clean in races to be within 200 points of Michael Caruso and Kelly.
De Silvestro is tipped to make considerable gains next year with more experience.
“The second year when she ... doesn’t spend the first half of the weekend learning the track rather than setting the car up (she won’t be so disadvantaged),” Kelly said.
Supercars are in action today through to Sunday at Sydney Motorsport Park.