Photo by: IndyCar Series
Simona De Silvestro Finishes 14th at Twin Ring Motegi
September 18, 2011 - Motegi, Tochigi, Japan - Simona De Silvestro persevered to a fourteenth-place finish during the final IZOD IndyCar race at Twin Ring Motegi.
Starting from the back of the grid, De Silvestro was able to advance to P21 after only 15 laps. She and her HVM Racing team did some large changes throughout the weekend to find speed on the very low grip and tricky circuit. They accomplished their goal on Sunday afternoon, finding speed, putting together some solid laps and gaining positions.
De Silvestro was running in P17 at lap 50. An incident on lap 57 allowed her to advance to P16 and another with two laps to go in the race moved her up to P15. A penalty issued to another driver during the last few laps of the race gave her one more position, putting the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car in P14 to finish the final road course of the 2011 season.
"I think overall we can be happy with how the race went," said De Silvestro. "Where we started was kind of tough, but the car was definitely better in the race. It was difficult to pass out there, but we made it happen a few times. I'm proud of the Nuclear Clean Air Energy team for the work they put in this weekend as we tried a variety of changes. Now we'll look forward to finishing the season strong in Kentucky and Vegas."
The stars and cars of the IZOD IndyCar Series head back to the Midwest to compete in two weeks at the Kentucky Motor Speedway. The Kentucky Indy 300 is the 16th race of the season. Fans can catch all the action at the track on Sunday, October 2 at 2 p.m. EDT or on the telecast, airing live on Versus TV.
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