IndyCar – Simona De Silvestro To Run Big Cars With HVM

In a bit of a surprise to us here at Openpaddock.net, Simona De Silvestro secured a full-season ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series with HVM Racing.

In a collaborative effort with HVM Racing, Team Stargate Worlds will enter the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series with driver Simona De Silvestro. Known as Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing, the team will carry primary sponsorship from Stargate Resistance and associate sponsorship from Bernard Richards Manufacture (BRM), FireSky, Cheyenne Mountain Games, and Cardinal Technologies. De Silvestro and the # 78 entry will also lead the Do Not Text “N” Drive campaign which is designed to increase public awareness about the dangers of texting while driving.

I say this is a bit of a surprise not because of Simona’s skill, but because of a lot of the news we’ve been hearing regarding Simona’s sponsor and what we’ve heard from the league have been less than positive. As we reported just one week ago, the primary sponsor of US Racetronics, the team that has fielded Simona in the Atlantics championship for the past couple of seasons, filed for bankruptcy in Arizona after firing their CEO. The game development company Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment produces the first title in the Stargate universe, Stargate Resistance, and is in the process of developing the MMORPG Stargate Worlds. To be sure, filing bankruptcy doesn’t preclude an advertising spend, but it does make spending those advertisement dollars on sponsoring a racing team a much tougher sell. We’re very happy that Simona didn’t lose her funding due to the corrupt actions of others. The other rumors that lead us to believe that Simona wouldn’t be able to join the IICS was that the league was wanting Simona to race a year in the Firestone Indy Lights series in order to gain more oval experience. Thankfully, that mandate was lifted (if it was ever in place to begin with) and the way was cleared for Simona to finally get her shot at the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.

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2 Thoughts to “IndyCar – Simona De Silvestro To Run Big Cars With HVM

  1. Yay! Simona will be a welcome addition to the field. I am surprised that the sponsorship deal didn’t fall through with the bankruptcy. Hopefully this means the check for the entire season has cleared….

  2. Alan Turner

    Huh. I’m glad to hear that. I was with you guys and didn’t think it would happen. Possible, just not likely. I don’t know squat about the gaming world (bought my kids a Wii and I never play it) but they must think that there is an important market that can be reached via IICS.

    Makes me wonder a whole lot about other issues concerning the demographics of IICS fans and future IICS fans and what direction manufacturing partners would want to see the series go in if they were to be involved. i.e. the Delta Wing concept.

    Read the results of a survey a while back with results that showed that for the first time since the beginning of time (1911) that the youth in this country predominately see the automobile as a utilitarian device more like a toaster than the icon of freedom, man hood, manliness and everything else most of us “old” guys take for granted as what a car means.

    If that is the case then gobs of hp etc.. may not be what attracts the next generation of fans.

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