Simona de Silvestro will test the Honda aero package for the first time next week at Sebring International Raceway in an Andretti Autosport-prepared car in preparation for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
De Silvestro, 26, was catching up with new teammates Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz and the crews at the March 16-17 Promoter Test at Barber Motorsports Park.
In 2013, de Silvestro qualified a career-best third on St. Petersburg street circuit in her first race with KV Racing Technology. Fourth place in the 2011 opener on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn course had been her career-best finish until she posted a second place in 2013 in Houston 1.
In 2014, she pursued Formula One aspirations. In 65 Verizon IndyCar Series races over four seasons, de Silvestro recorded three top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
Multiple teams will test March 23-25:
Sebring International Raceway short course — James Hinchcliffe and James Jakes of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports; Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power of Team Penske; Josef Newgarden and Luca Filippi of CFH Racing; Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing; Jack Hawksworth and Takuma Sato of A.J. Foyt Racing; Sebastien Bourdais of KVSH Racing; Stefano Coletti of KV Racing Technology.
NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La. — Carlos Huertas and Francesco Dracone of Dale Coyne Racing; Gabby Chaves of Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian; Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Sage Karam and Charlie Kimball of Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.
“(March 17) our objective was to try a ton of stuff as learn as much as we could about the aero and I think they’ve done a heck of a job,” Rahal said. “We test at Sebring on Monday and Tuesday and it’s going to be an interesting animal with the fact that it’s going to be pretty grippy after the (12 Hours of Sebring). But I’m just looking forward to turning some laps. It’s going to be good for the durability of these cars, to test how it shakes, rattles, where any weak points are and all of that sort of stuff. At the end of the day, we’ve got to just trying to turn laps in these things and test them and Sebring’s next up.”
Promoter Day sessions on the St. Pete circuit totaling 2 hours, 30 minutes on the afternoon of March 27 will precede a 45-minute practice March 28 before the three rounds of qualifications for the 110-lap race March 29 (3 p.m. ET, ABC).
