Simona de Silvestro Ready For Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, March 26, 2011: Simona de Silvestro is ready to kick off her sophomore season in the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car as she competes in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series.

After three practice sessions - taking place on Friday and Saturday - de Silvestro stayed focused through a few engineering revisions.

"We struggled in the first session," she said, but was happier with the second. "We improved the car a little bit and everything is going great with my new engineer. We're starting to understand each other - I think it's clicked a little more this time."

After Saturday afternoon's qualifying session, de Silvestro was cautiously optimistic.

"I think we could have had a better run, but we caught a lot of traffic during the time we were having a good lap. It's kind of a shame because I think we're really pushing it and we could have gotten into the Fast Six. It is what it is, but we'll make it happen tomorrow during the race."

De Silvestro will start 17th in the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, a 1.8-mile street course race, airing on ABC at 12:30 p.m. ET.