Rob LomasSimona de Silvestro is no stranger to Formula E having raced for Andretti and latterly Amlin Andretti during from the last round of Season 1 to the end of Season 2.
Having also previously raced in IndyCar, IMSA and currently in the Supercars series in Australia and now the first female Porsche factory driver, the Swiss driver has a wealth of experience to fall back on.
She also raced at Daytona this year in an Acura NSX and when asked about the chances of racing in IMSA or another series, she remained coy about it saying: “I don’t know. At the moment, nothing has been announced but I’ll be involved with Porsche somehow.
Having flown in from the Bathurst 1000 the previous weekend the constant, dramatic changes in time zones would have an impact.
De Silvestro admitted: “Definitely Australia’s a tricky one because it is so far away and you literally sit in an aeroplane for 24 hours so it makes it a bit tricky. But, I’m used to it and with the time, you become a bit of a pro at it and try to figure it out.”
With the number of days of testing at the circuit declining, the usage of simulators has become increasingly prevalent.
Among the other benefits include the ability to run the sim at night for example so you’re not as limited to daylight hours.
De Silvestro also thinks the sim is a good tool despite the challenges of finishing off her Supercars season.
She said: “The sim is really beneficial because I think you can run it a little bit more than on a test day but, for me, I’m just kind of jumping in the role.
“I’m still racing in Supercars until the end of November so then everything will make a bit more sense on how much time we are spending in the sim and outside and I think testing will only start again next year for the next generation car again so yeah, we’ll be on that and see how it goes.”
Bethonie Waring
