Simona: Porsche racing in the home office 🎥
911 RACE DEBUTT IN THE SIMULATOR Actually, Simona de Silvestro was supposed to take part in the official test drives for the ADAC GT Masters this week. She now made her GT3 racing debut with Porsche in the simulator. In her self-made video, the Lausanne native gives a glimpse into her home office as a sim racer and explains how she operates the simulator. Instead of driving on a [...]
In her self-made video, the Lausanne native gives a glimpse into her home office as a sim racer, explaining how she operates the simulator.
Instead of a real race track, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup began last weekend as a Virtual Edition with two digital races on Barcelona's virtual Circuit de Catalunya.
In addition to the fixed teams such as Fach Auto Tech with its three drivers for 2020 (see Report), VIP cars with well-known professional racers complete the field. Among them are Simona de Silvestro and Fabienne Wohlwend.
Race debut in the home office
The Swiss thus made her Porsche racing debut in a virtual way. She is already doing simulator work for the Formula E team, and in the 2020 ADAC GT Masters she will compete in a Porsche 911 GT3 R from Team 75 Bernhard. The planned test drives have so far been prevented by the corona virus.
It wasn't until March 31 that Simona de Silvestro received a RacingFuel Academy race simulator delivered to her Zurich apartment. She contested her first Porsche race in it on April 4.
Almost like real racing
At the action-packed event, Larry ten Voorde (NL) and Ayhancan Güven (TR), who also squared off a number of victories with other Supercup drivers in real racing last year, were jubilant. In the virtual event, 31 drivers competed with identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.
Both races were characterized by accident-prone overtaking maneuvers in the starting phase. This led to high retirement rates in each case. The Porsche factory drivers were particularly affected. Among the experienced Supercup specialists who drove their virtual cars brilliantly, only Sven Müller (D), Simona de Silvestro and Nick Tandy (GB) were able to hold their own.
Swiss works driver Simona de Silvestro drove a Cup car in the colors of Porsche partner ABB, for which she is also an ambassador. She made a respectable virtual job of it, finishing 11th and 12th.
Simona de Silvestro: "I would never have thought that I would compete in my first Porsche race in this way. It was mega funny, a huge crash festival. My car also took a bit of a beating in the process. But it was fun."
It's the same for everyone
The next races for this virtual championship will be held on the Silverstone layout on April 18, Spa-Francorchamps on April 25 and Monza on May 16. The former IndyCar driver will also be involved again.
Even though this is an exciting change of pace at the moment, she longs for normalcy to return.
Simon a de Silvestro: "I'm starting to get a bit antsy. I did some work in Porsche's Formula E simulator over the winter. But the last time I sat in a race car was in Australia in November. At least it's the same for all race drivers..."
The first two virtual Supercup races offered plenty of action. However, neither Simona de Silvestro nor Fabienne Wohlwend made it into the top ten.
porsche.com/swiss/en/motorsportandevents/motorsport/
