As the fallout from the shock announcement of Craig Lowndes’ full-time Supercars retirement continues and the debate roaring on about whether he was forced into moving aside – attention begins to fall upon who will take that coveted seat in the Triple Eight stable next year.
This, despite the belief that the third entry run by Roland Dane and his Triple Eight organisation was a unique gesture to one of their favourite sons.
When Shane van Gisbergen was recruited into the Red Bull Holden Racing Team, it appeared that the factory Holden team had no plans to remove that car from the series.
Plans for 2019 are not yet in place, however, the consensus is that Holden’s desire to have a marquee female driver will come to fruition, in the form of Nissan driver Simona De Silvestro.
The ‘Iron Maiden’ of motorsport is in her sophomore season in the Supercars championship, made her full-time debut in 2017 with Nissan Motorsport following a pair of Bathurst 1000 wildcard entries in the years prior.
Having contested some of the most competitive categories in the world like IndyCar, Formula E, as well as being a development driver for the Sauber F1 Team, the 29-year old is a well-credentialled entity continuing to find her feet in Supercars.
A career-best result of twelfth was achieved in Perth earlier in the season for De Silvestro, as the Nissan Altima package itself continues to develop and gain speed.
However, qualifying remains an area for improvement, with her races continually hampered by incidents at the rear of the grid – a by-product of qualifying on the lower end of the field.
The category’s maiden visit to Newcastle at season’s end in 2017 saw Simona deliver arguably her best weekend, on a level playing field with the rest of the field as far coming to a circuit that no one had previously driven.
Having been in a position to fight for bigger points, the Swiss ace was able to out-muscle some of the more experienced hands in the field, going toe-to-toe with the unrelenting Garth Tander at one point who has an unyielding reputation.
Recently, Holden has expressed their desire for a female force to represent their marque. The manufacturer’s previous marketing boss in Mark Harland made this intention public prior to his departure in March.
Now with the vacancy in the factory Holden stable, the time is right to fulfil that ambition.
(AAP Image/Mark Horsburgh)
This would be of great benefit to the manufacturer from a marketing perspective – given that De Silvestro would be replacing the most popular driver on the grid in Lowndes, but also further supporting female involvement in motorsport at the highest level.
It would also go a long way to nurture Simona’s skills in the fiercely competitive category, having two champions in Jamie Whincup and Kiwi Van Gisbergen as benchmarks, piloting what is considered benchmark machinery.
Not that her stint with the Kelly Racing and Nissan isn’t doing that, moving to Triple Eight and adding that extra pressure of being with a top team could be what ultimately moulds De Silvestro into one of Supercars’ strongest.
Given that now Nissan is to withdraw its factory backing from the Kellys and Supercars itself at the conclusion of this season, the timing could not have been better as far career progression goes for Simona and developing her into a driver that can contest at the front of the field.
Triple Eight could easily employ other options in the form of 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner in Chaz Mostert, who is a known entity or even bring another international superstar into the fold in the form of sportscar ace Earl Bamber – who will partner Van Gisbergen in the Enduro Cup this season.
However, for the betterment of Supercars and Triple Eight, the best option would be promoting De Silvestro as the heir apparent to the people’s champion in Lowndes and seeing the green-eyed Autobarn Commodore regenerate itself into Harvey Norman colours.
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