IndyCar - Bad Luck Ruins Simona De Silvestro's Top-Ten Run At Edmonton

Edmonton, July 25, 2011: Simona De Silvestro was on her way to her fourth top-ten finish of the season when a mechanical problem stopped her on lap 55 of Sunday afternoon's Edmonton Indy.

De Silvestro and her Nuclear Clean Air Energy crew had a rough start to the Edmonton Indy race weekend. IndyCar track activity was cancelled on Friday, after a continuous rain fell over the Edmonton City Centre Airport circuit.

Saturday's schedule was rearranged to include additional track time, however De Silvestro and her team spent both sessions trying to find enough speed. That afternoon, the team made good progress and De Silvestro delivered a solid qualifying attempt, running in the top six for most of the session. The time fell just short with only a couple minutes left, leaving her to start P16 in Sunday's race.

After several incidents during the early laps of the Edmonton Indy, De Silvestro was running P18. She continued to move up through the field and, after a great pit stop on lap 38, was running P12. A drive-through penalty for Hunter-Reay moved her up to P11. Eleven laps later, she came out of the team's second pit stop in P10. Unfortunately, the car suffered a suspected clutch failure, bringing HVM's day to an end on lap 55.

"It's definitely disappointing," said De Silvestro. "The team worked so hard this weekend to improve the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car every time we went out on track. After our top-ten finish in Toronto, I thought we were headed toward a repeat, but that just wasn't our luck today. So we'll hope to do it in Mid-Ohio."