The rumors started popping up on the weekend and now they've been verified: Simona de Silvestro has signed with KV Racing for the 2013 season. The Swiss driver will team up with Tony Kanaan at KV Racing and she will once again have Nuclear Clean Air Energy as a sponsor (source - KV Racing). For Simona, the nightmare is over.
Said de Silvestro: "I'm really excited to be joining KV Racing Technology. I think it's going to be great having Tony as a teammate. It's never easy to make a change like this, but I'm confident that it's the right move for me going forward. I do want to thank Keith and HVM Racing for helping me gain a ton of experience these last three years. Even though we struggled last year with our engine, I learned a lot. Now it's time to move on and look forward to next season. I'm proud of the fact that I'm the spokesperson for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy campaign and very happy that Entergy, AREVA, and all my sponsors will continue to support my racing efforts."
Interestingly enough, one of de Silvestro's best IndyCar races was when she famously battled Kanaan for third at St. Petersburg to start the 2011 season. Kanaan will be de Silvestro's first teammate as the young Swiss driver has always driven for a one-car operation.
No more Lotus
The 24 year old de Silvestro drove for HVM Racing the past three seasons, including last year with Lotus power. As the consistently slowest car in the field due to Lotus' incapacity to field a fast, quick or reliable powerplant the entire year, she was always last or near last at every event in 2012 (finished only six races). At KV Racing, de Silvestro will have Chevrolet engines.
It looks like the team of KV Racing will take on a partner in Imran Safiulla who was also part of the ownership at HVM Racing. KV Racing is owned by Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser. Rumors have persisted that HVM Racing and KV Racing would merge but technically, that doesn't seem to be the case.
KV Racing was a three car team last season with Tony Kanaan, Rubens Barrichello and E.J. Viso. But it was believed that only Kanaan would be back in 2013.
Simona de Silvestro has already tested with the team in Birmingham this past Monday - and better days seem to be ahead for the one they call the 'Swiss Miss'.
Sources - IndyCar, Simona de Silvestro
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Daryle has been involved in motorsports most of his life and has three decades of experience inside racemarketing, plus for several years has blogged about every type of racing.
