IMSA sports car team to field lineup of four female drivers in 2019
The No. 57 car in IMSA’s GT Daytona division is set to be driven exclusively by women.
Meyer Shank Racing announced Friday that it had partnered with Heinricher Racing LLC to field a car driven by Simona de Silvestro, Katherine Legge, Bia Figueiredo and Jackie Heinricher in 2019.
Heinricher and Legge will drive for the full GTD season. De Silvestro will be with the team for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona while Figueiredo will drive with the team for races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta.
Legge has driven for Shank’s GTD team in 2018 while also competing in four NASCAR Xfinity Series races. Her best NASCAR finish this season was a 14th at Road America in August.
De Silvestro competed in 68 career IndyCar races from 2010-15 with a best finish of second in 2013 at Houston. She’s spent the last two seasons competing full-time in Australian SuperCars. The team’s Daytona effort, according to SportsCar 365, will be the second time a car has been driven exclusively by women in the 24-hour race.
“It’s pretty exciting and I think for sure the line up that we have is really strong,” De Silvestro said in a team statement. “All of us girls have a lot of credibility and I think it will be quite exciting so I’m really looking forward to Daytona. I think the team dynamic will be very strong. For myself, it will be a little bit of learning but I am looking forward to it. It’s quite a special feeling to be a part of such a good team that has had a lot of success so I think this is going to be a great car to be in and to give us all a strong shot. I just can’t wait to go racing in Daytona, which I have always dreamt about.”
Figueiredo, more commonly known to U.S. racing fans as Ana Beatriz, is also an IndyCar veteran. She competed in 29 races from 2010-13 with a best finish of 11th. Heinricher has driven in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series as well as in Red Bull’s Global Rally Cross. 2019 will be her first season in IMSA.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
