De Silvestro: Bathurst is a two-year plan

It was announced today that the Swiss-born IndyCar and Formula E driver will partner up with Australian racer Renee Gracie for this year’s Bathurst 1000, driving a wildcard entry run by Prodrive Racing Australia.

But de Silvestro isn’t expecting it to be a one-off, confirming that she has plans to return for a second crack at The Great Race.

“It’s really special. The plan is to do this for two years, and I think it’s really good to have a little bit of momentum,” she said.

“We’ll see how the first year goes, then we’ll see how maybe the second one goes. Right now the focus is for the first race. Hopefully it will go really well for us.

“I’m really excited to be racing at Bathurst. It’s a great opportunity for me. I’ve always seen that are track, and seen that race, and wanted to be part of it. So it’s great that I’m going to be able to do this this year.

“I’m a pretty big fan, especially when I was in the US I followed V8 Supercars quite a lot. The Bathurst event was the first timeI actually watched a race on TV. The cars look like a lot of fun to drive. I’m looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile, V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton welcomed the arrival of an all-female team to the Bathurst race.

“The exciting all-female combination of Simona and Renee will receive worldwide attention and add even more interest to this iconic event,” he said.

“Bathurst is one of the world’s top five motor races, sitting comfortably alongside Le Mans, Monaco and the Indy 500, and this is one of the most significant announcements in the history of the event.”