IndyCar - Simona de Silvestro Continues To Hone Oval Skills

Fort Worth, June 12, 2011: With intense heat and a new race weekend format to contend with, Simona de Silvestro showed steady improvement on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

The IZOD IndyCar Series introduced a new dual-race schedule this weekend: The Firestone Twin 275s, two 114-lap races, run consecutively. The new format proved to be a hit with the fan base, and even the drivers seemed to have fun with the "random draw" for starting positions in race two.

De Silvestro, who qualified the car P29 on Friday for the first race, drew a P22 for the second. Despite a P26/P27 finish for the two races, she showed tremendous improvement throughout the course of the 228 combined laps.

"In both races, it was really about getting my confidence back, trying some things and learning a lot," says de Silvestro. "The ovals aren't my strong point, but I'm learning from each race. The team pushed me tonight and I was able to give some great feedback. I know that the Nuclear Clean Air Energy team is behind me and I think we can be happy with what we did. Plus, I'm pretty sure the fans liked the dual-race format and it's great when we can put on a good show for them."

Next weekend, de Silvestro heads to the legendary Milwaukee Mile for Father's Day weekend with the IZOD IndyCar Series. The Milwaukee 225 will take place on Sunday, June 19 at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be aired on ABC.