The DriveNation Instagram feed recently ran an enjoyable bit about the revival of Lotus Engineering, saying “Once clients came from around the world for that Lotus magic but, in recent years, the department dwindled down to almost nothing.”
A couple of days later, I swapped some emails with Lotus Engineering’s new Commercial Director, Dan Burge. It was an unconnected fluke: I was chasing a Honda CR-V for sale that turned out to be owned by Dan’s parents. Formerly of Prodrive and Williams Advanced Engineering, Dan has been criss-crossing the world since joining Lotus last month. Our brief encounter inspired some research on the story of Lotus Engineering.
Lotus Engineering Limited
Anyone with an interest in cars knows something of Lotus. Founded as a sports car manufacturer in the late 1940s, its early cars were built in a pub car park, but they were still beautiful. One of my first jobs when I immigrated to London was working with Rover dealer, Peter Walker. Peter raced some famous Lotus 15s and seeing how they were revered in his household was an education in what Lotus means to the English.
Until the Elise was revealed, the motor trade regarded Lotus road cars as per the acronym: Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious. The parent company’s history has also been pretty up and down. Founded by Colin Chapman and Colin Dare in 1952, Lotus started as Lotus Engineering. Team Lotus was formed in 1954 and raced in Formula 1 from 1958 to 1994. Lotus Cars was split off from its engineering parent in 1959.
Lotus Engineering Ltd was incorporated in 1980. Companies House shows three current officers: company secretary, Dr James Bradley, was appointed in April 2018, while directors Daniel Donghui Lui and Feng Qingfeng (CFO and CTO of Geely Auto Group) were appointed in September 2017. Corporate filing history for the business goes back to the mid 1980s and tells an interesting story, if you like looking at figures.
Embodying a British zeitgeist from the 1950s through the 1970s, by 1980 Group Lotus was struggling. Recession hit the company hard and annual production sank below 400 cars. However, Chapman had amassed vast brand value as an engineer and in 1982, Toyota engaged Lotus to help develop its chassis technology. In return, Lotus got Toyota components for the new Excel.
DeLorean and the death of Chapman
Things were looking up for Lotus when Chapman died suddenly in December 1982. A deal to develop the DeLorean’s chassis unravelled into chaos (along with DeLorean) soon after and the British tax authorities ring-fenced £84 million of Lotus assets: a sum of money it claimed had gone missing from government subsidies paid to DeLorean.
Mike Lawrence’s warts-and-all Chapman biography puts the total at more like £10 million, but does not gloss over the alleged deception: something Chapman supposedly could have got ten years in prison for had he not passed away. Adrian Newey’s autobiography mentions 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti’s belief that Chapman faked his own death on the basis of the scandal, but that’s a whole other story.
Back to Lotus Engineering Limited. The media release for the reborn consultancy mentions the Corvette ZR-1 LT5 (1990) and Aston Martin DB7 as part of the brand’s heritage (1994), but Companies House shows that Lotus Engineering Limited submitted accounts as a dormant company from at least 1984 to the end of 1997, until it once again began trading.
Lotus Engineering and the General Motors umbrella
Lotus was owned by General Motors from 1986 to 1993, making the Corvette link obvious. Aston was part of Ford from 1988 to 2007, so helping to repackage the Jaguar XJS as the DB7 was a little more complicated.
The MR2 (1984) exploited an existing connection between the two firms, which continued through the use of Toyota engines in the Lotus Elise (1996). Other well known projects by Lotus Engineering projects included the updated Isuzu Piazza (1987), which came as part of GM’s tie up with Isuzu that had started in 1971.
The aforementioned Volvo 480 (1985) was a low-key Lotus Engineering project that did not come from under the GM umbrella. I worked in a few Volvo dealerships at the end of the 1980s and remember the typical client as neither youthful nor sporty. The 480 Coupe with “handling by Lotus” and an uninspiring 1.7-litre Renault engine tuned by Porsche was an attempt to inject some new blood into the showrooms, but I remember only older ladies with big fluffy dogs driving 480s from new. The model was axed in 1997 and is a rare sight on UK roads nowadays.
Lotus, Bugatti and Proton
Romano Artioli bought Lotus in 1993 and ran it alongside ownership of Bugatti until his bankruptcy in 1996 (the Lotus Elise was named after his granddaughter). In 1996, Artiolo sold Lotus to Proton Cars of Malaysia to help pay off some debt.
Proton started filing accounts for Lotus Engineering Limited in 1998: the first accounts in more than a decade. 1997-98 showed profits of £1.3 million on turnover of £6.1 million, with £1.4 million on £7.2 million turnover the following year and £947,000 on £9.1 million the year after that.
In 2001, eight directors resigned and the company reported a profit of £2.7 million on turnover of £14.8 million. Profit went to £2.5 million and then £4.2 million on turnover of £21.6 million (01-02) and £24.6 million (02-03) respectively. Zero to £25 million turnover for an engineering consultancy in six years of accounts is quite interesting.
After that, things began to tail off. The following year, Lotus Engineering Ltd paid a dividend of £13 million, declaring profits of £358,000 on a turnover of just £1 million. Income from asset investments brought in £2.9 million in 2004/5, but actual turnover fell to £183,000. Income dwindled further through 2005 and subsequent years show the company as a non-trading subsidiary of Lotus Cars Limited.
Dany Bahar arrives
The controversial Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar, is listed as a director between November 2009 and June 2012. After he goes, the 2012-2013 accounts state that the company is regarded as a going concern. A payment of £4.1 million owed by Lotus Cars appears on the balance sheet, underwritten by Proton’s parent. These accounts are repeated annually until 2017, when the company once again changes hands.
China’s Geely Group acquired its majority stake in Proton in 2017 and things start developing. The accounts now show Geely as underwriting the £4.1 million and new articles of association regarding conflicts of interest are filed. Accounts submitting covering the period to the end of December 2018 show that the company remains dormant, but the hiring cycles through 2019 suggest that fresh accounts are imminent.
Lotus Engineering: the origin story
Origin stories are perhaps the most powerful tools in marketing. Shaping an origin story capable of triggering the right audience is a surefire route to powerful associations in the minds of buyers. Those instant clicks create strong brand allegiances that do not require substantial marketing investment. Less of the hard sell saves time and money.
There are more big advantages to running an engineering and design consultancy as a side arm of a somewhat anonymous parent. UK buyers would definitely not take to a Geely Elise: Lotus is the trigger in that proposal.
While Lotus has confirmed its future as a purely electric sports and hypercar manufacturer (such as the remarkable Evija seen here), the relaunch of its engineering subsidiary, whether to cross-kudos other Geely products – a Volvo roadster for example – or a more workaday executive with handling by Lotus, will keep the engineering side ticking over until the globetrotting commercial people get a foothold.
Lotus Cars: UK and China
Although many future Lotus cars will be manufactured in China, there are obvious marketing upsides to maintaining the engineering base at Hethel, as well as a new office near me in Warwick. There will also be financial upsides to the continued presence in the UK: Government subsidies for electric car development, for example. Alongside chassis tuning of future collaborations, we may well see Lotus-branded drivetrains in sporty derivatives from less evocative mass manufacturers. Lotus has powertrain history, with GM’s Corvette and EcoTec engines.
However the story unfolds, the continued presence of a Lotus subsidiary at the cutting edge of automotive engineering is essential to the brand’s future. Maintaining the brand’s connections to the iconic image of Chapman standing in the pits is a hardwired connection to the hearts and minds of British car buyers and what sells well to the UK cognoscenti is usually a success elsewhere.
The comment below from one forum post on the subject of Chapman’s legacy demonstrates just how deep the British love of Lotus runs: something that has not faded since his death almost forty years ago.
Chapman’s early business life is similar to Bernie Ecclestone’s, selling cars in post WW2 Warren street and the rather sharp ethics seem to have the same air about them. I believe myself that his early passing was simply the result of not sleeping for the best part of thirty years and using pills to stay awake: the body can only take so much. Nevertheless, I find Chapman the most fascinating individual in motor racing, and that is saying something in a sport that has attracted some pretty outlandish people over the decades.
Given the emotional attachment of British enthusiasts to the entire Lotus myth, the revival of the engineering brand that underpins the entire origin story of Lotus Cars under the umbrella of an automotive group that is currently winning all the sports has a strong chance of engagement. While the true Chapman story may fall some way short of the legend, his maverick appeal endures.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
There are some big family birthdays this month. My eldest sister turns fifty tomorrow and youngest daughter is fifteen in a fortnight. Between the two is a big birthday for Norbert Singer, the most celebrated race engineer in Porsche history.
It’s no coincidence that Singer is a name now known for a certain type of 911s. Singer founder, Rob Dickinson, is one of the many Norbert Singer superfans. Recordings of my first interview with Rob where he talks about the genesis of his company feature a geekish delight in the fact that Rob was both a successful singer and a disciple of Singer the designer.
Big ideas in Bohemia
On November 16, 1939, Norbert Singer was born in Eger in the Sudetenland, one year after Hitler had reclaimed the disputed region split from Germany as part of the creation of Czechoslovakia in the Treaty of Versailles.
Having annexed neighbouring Austria in March 1938, Hitler called for a plebiscite across the Sudeten Mountains of northern Czechoslovakia, to allow the millions of German-speaking Sudeten Germans who had been “trapped” by the creation of Czechoslovakia to decide their own fate, threatening invasion if the request was ignored and building a force of some 750,000 soldiers along the Czech border.
To avoid war, England and France acquiesced to the demands as part of the appeasement set out in the Munich Agreement and convinced the Czech government to cede the territory. Hitler sent the Wehrmacht into the Sudetenland the day after the agreement was signed, on October 1st, 1938. Six months later, he invaded the rest of the country.
German expansionism (known as Lebensraum or ‘space to live’) was the climate that welcomed young Singer in November 1939. Eger (now Cheb in the Czech Republic) was again part of Germany and feeling good about life: it was time to think big and plan for the future.
Norbert was all about the future: he grew up fascinated with space travel and dreamed of a career as a rocket engineer. He watched a lot of racing through his university years studying aerospace and automotive engineering in Munich and saw Jim Clark race at the Monaco Grand Prix. A professor convinced him on the idea that “rocket engineering is for Americans: in Germany we are all about cars”.
No letter from Porsche
Singer learned that Porsche was looking for engineers, but his father was not convinced that the small sports car firm would be Norbert’s best option. Other small firms were all going under: what hope could Porsche have of being any different? Singer’s fascination almost came to nothing as, after interviewing with Porsche, he heard no more until a phone call in early March 1970, asking why he hadn’t turned up for his first day at work. Stuttgart had neglected to send the letter confirming his appointment.
He turned up for his second day and was immediately set to work on simplifying the 917’s fuel system, under the leadership of Ferdinand Piëch. After that it was gearbox cooling, then aerodynamics. The 917 won its first Le Mans later that year and Singer began to build a reputation. His work on the 911 RSR took the car to victory, as it did with the RSR Turbo, the 935 and the famous 936. But it was the 956 that really put Norbert on the map.
Following the introduction of the Group C regulations in 1982, Singer proved his tremendous ability as an aerodynamicist, providing Porsche’s new Group C car with exceptional ground effect. The car’s winning sure-footedness came from a special underbody design with air ducts and the legendary “Singer dent”, but Norbert notes that success was not guaranteed.
Norbert Singer: “You can trip up over your own feet”
“I was cautious going into the race,” recalls the chief engineer. “The 956 was a completely new car. You can’t go into every race saying, Hurray, we’re going for the win! You have to see how things go – getting through 24 hours is no easy task. This win was perfect and actually somewhat surprising. We had taken our job very seriously. A few years before that we had made a mistake.
“In 1979, Ernst Fuhrmann was still with Porsche and he said to us engineers, ‘What do you say if we drive Le Mans this year? There’s practically no competition.’ Basically, we just had to show up and walk off with the victory. And what happened? We didn’t reach the finish line with either car – we lost even without competition. You can trip over your own feet as well. Having experienced that, I really enjoyed the win in 1982. The 956 went straight into the museum. It’s the car that hangs from the ceiling.”
The 956 and its successor, the 962C, won five driver titles, three manufacturer titles and two team world championships between 1982 and 1986, also clocking up seven overall victories at Le Mans. From 1970 to 1998, Singer played significant roles in all of Porsche’s race wins at Le Mans with the 917, 935, 936, 965, 962C, WSC Spyder and 911 GT1 98.
Until his retirement in 2004, Norbert Singer was the project manager for most of Porsche’s racing cars. After leaving Porsche, he continued to consult with customer race teams, also serving as an advisor to ACO: the Le Mans race organisers. Singer’s knowledge of Porsche racing history has also proved invaluable to the factory when restoring original race cars, such as 917 chassis number 001 or 965 number 005.
Porsche says that Singer has been lecturing at Esslingen University since 2006 and continues to do so. Whatever he is up to these days, his place at the top table of Porsche history is without question and it is a delight to see him reach the grand age of eighty. Happy birthday Norbert!
“I suppose the German side wants to keep everything in control, and the Irish side wants to wreak havoc,” claims Michael Fassbender. I’m not so sure about that. When I am with Germans, I’m generally the one keeping things under control, while the rest run amok. I guess it depends on the Germans you know.
Weg mit ihren Köpfen
The Irish missionary Kilian went to Germany in 689 AD. It was a big mistake. When Kilian suggested that a local lady was not the most suitable bride for a newly-baptised duke, on the basis that she had once been married to the duke’s now-dead brother, the Germans chopped off Kilian’s head, and those of both his companions.
But times have changed. When Fassbender smashes his GT3 Cup nose-first into the Hockenheim pit wall right in front of the Porsche crew, they run through what went wrong and roll out a spare car. A few weeks later, he has another sizeable accident and another spare car is wheeled out. German-Irish relations have definitely evolved.
Anyway, this story is all about an actor en route to Le Mans. Yes, that old chestnut is back, except this time it is rather more interesting (for us Irish, at least). After a two-year learning curve racing Ferraris, Michael Fassbender is training with Porsche for a shot at the 24-Heures. His teacher, Felipe Fernandez Laser, is a VLN winner with Frikadelli Racing and should be capable of helping a decent amateur find their way up to the level of a quick GTE-AM driver.
So far, Fassbender appears to show decent potential. A ninth place finish in a Porsche Sports Cup race is no mean feat for a rookie and there are flashes of speed all the way through Porsche’s latest Youtube series, following Fassbender’s Road to Le Mans. The biggest test will be whether he can put it all together, but this is man knows what it’s like to do 10,000 hours.
Heidelberg to Aghadoe
Fassbender arrived into the world just 100 kms north of Stuttgart in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemburg on April 2, 1977. His German father, Josef, was a chef and his Irish mother, Adele, raised the kids. The pair had met while working in London but ended up moving to Germany. Adamant that the Republic would be a better environment for their kids to grow up in, Adele convinced Josef to move the family to Ireland. So, when Michael was two, they settled just outside Killarney, in County Kerry.
Killarney was rally central in the 1980s, so young Michael got into Group B. Then followed the age of Michael Schumacher and, as a young German who spoke the mother tongue fluently, Fassy followed Schumi: he’s often now found on F1 grids with Crazy Liam Cunningham and the pair met Schumi at one such weekend.
The youngster struggled to find some direction until he discovered drama in school. He immersed himself in acting and staged Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’ over two nights for the craic. He eventually moved to London to study the craft. Things were tough in the smoke and Fassbender was living on a few quid a week, working two minimum wage jobs and battling exhaustion to do as many auditions as possible. It all took its toll and Michael quit drama school to go it alone. It would not be the smoothest path to success.
When he quit his bar job after landing a part in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Band of Brothers’, the boss advised him to keep in touch, as the work might come in handy again. Fassbender laughed it off, feeling he had hit the big time, but, after a spell in LA trying to crack Hollywood, he ended up back in the bar.
Bit parts on British TV followed, leading to more and more screen time and the emergence of a fan base amongst critics. Eventually, things took off: he delivered an exceptional performance as IRA hunger striker, Bobby Sands, in the film Hunger and then Tarantino came back into his life, casting the German speaker as a British spy in Inglourious Basterds.
While the actor-turned-racer premise may initially feel like Fassbender is buying his way into racing and walking in footsteps we’ve all seen before (not that there’s owt wrong with that), there is more to this story than the same old thing and Porsche has scored big with Youtube viewers. Part 1 alone has 700k views and Porsche’s channel has 800k subscribers, so that should tell you all about the reach of this.
I am also a fan of the documentary: the way this is shot is just perfect. Fassbender is given the full expression of his Irish upbringing with no bleeps or edits and we see things exactly as his driver coach sees them. “I’m so bummed about the fuckin’ smash there behind the safety car,” is Fassbender’s first line in part 1. It’s hard to resist parts two and three after that.
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The 2005 US Grand Prix in Indianapolis came at the peak of the tyre wars between Bridgestone and Michelin. When Ralf Schumacher crashed during practice, Michelin picked up a problem and advised teams running its tyres not to race unless a pre-banking chicane was added, slowing the cars down and lessening the tyre loads.
Ferrari and the FIA vetoed the plan and all the cars came to the start grid. At the end of the warm-up lap, the Michelin cars pulled into the pits and retired. Six Bridgestone cars completed the race and F1 and Indianapolis canned their agreement.
Quick Thinking: The Grid Walk
Former F1 Driver , Martin Brundle, was the man chosen by ITV to develop the idea of a live TV “grid walk” before F1 race starts. Broadcasters had tried it before, but run-of-the-mill TV presenters were not the right people to get in the faces of drivers in the final tense minutes before lights out. Brundle blended his understanding of the pressures that came with the job, a good sense of humour and a lightning fast ability to think on the spot and became the de-facto gridwalk persona.
The 2005 US Grand Prix gridwalk is a great example of why Brundle has been so successful. In the midst of a media frenzy, he quizzes F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, at length, making several points on behalf of the fans without losing his cool. Brundle’s talent shines through when he asks the man who can famously arrange anything why this problem can’t be easily solved.
“Surely we just all need to take a sensible pill and then go motor racing?” says Martin. “Tell me where we can buy the pills,” replies Bernie, giving Brundle a playful dig. “Okay, we need to talk to Mrs Ecclestone,” Martin says: cheeky and quick all in one.
Thinking fast under pressure is common skill in racers. The speed of change on a racetrack means that most reactions to an emerging situation must be assigned automatically, living sufficient conscious capacity to make quick, confident decisions when faced with a series of options.
Of course, the skill is not always full developed and we often see things going wrong when a lesser decision plays out. But unforgettable moments are made when a champion driver focuses their ability to think fast and run against the odds, pulling off something that rails against our instincts.
One such moment was made at this year’s Nürburgring 24-Hour. After leading the early part of the race, Manthey Racing’s lead 911 had a puncture and was forced down the order. When Kévin Estre took over the sister car, he set a series of incredible laps, pulling more than twenty seconds back on Dirk Müller’s Black Falcon Mercedes.
Eventually the cars were line astern and fighting hard for the lead. The Porsche’s pace was mighty: Estre picked up the slipstream on Dottinger Hohe and decided now was his time. As the leader drifted left to lap a backmarker, Estre calculated that the verge would be dry. Putting two wheels on the grass and not lifting the throttle, he swooped to the lead.
The team of Estre, Christensen, Bamber and Vanthoor stayed in front until a five-minute time penalty for missed yellow flags put the Porsche out of contention. Having led the race for 105 of 157 laps, the Manthey car was forced to settle for second position. Two weeks after the ADAC Total Nürburgring 24-Hours, the number 911 car was retrospectively disqualified by DMSB officials. Manthey issued the following statement:
“The engine in our inspected #911 car complied with all the key points of the homologation. The only thing that was not consistent with the prescribed 2 x 34.6-millimetre diameter of the restrictor, which was the size we used, was the performance value calculated by the ADAC technical committee. We must accept that we did not check the plausibility of the value calculated by the organiser, neither on the test bench in Weissach nor on our chassis dynamometer in Meuspath. We accept the judgement and will not lodge an appeal.”
Disqualified from second place – does anyone really care about that? Winning is a statistic: proof you existed. But writing a move like this into the culture of motorsport is proof that you lived. Long after people have forgotten the winner of the 2019 Nürburgring 24-Hour, they will remember this pass, and Kévin Estre. So far, it’s the Porsche move of the year.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
I caught the first Porsche Supercup race of the Mexico Grand Prix weekend tonight. While I haven’t missed a Grand Prix in over ten years, it’s been a while since I watched a Supercup race. Unsurprisingly, not much has changed since last time.
Michael Ammermüller has been a smooth operator since coming to Supercup in 2012. A former Red Bull Racing test driver, he raced single seaters before Porsches, so, when he does not start on pole, he has a way of getting to the front without inflicting too much collateral damage en route. This is not the Supercup norm.
The first race in Mexico exemplified the contrast between the man from Passau in Bavaria and most of the rest, when the championship leader took an early lead and wasted no time building a gap. Meanwhile, the young hot shots who have vied for Weissach’s attention and championship honours all year were dropping bodywork and running miles beyond track limits to ultimately slow each other down and finish well off the pace.
Holding on to positions by cutting corners and chicanes is amateur stuff: they could all do with watching how the champion brought his third title home. It was a surprise that the race director did not pull them up a bit harder. I guess that is probably fair enough in the title decider for a one-make championship but, if drivers knew they would be penalised for running off track and gaining an advantage, then they might drive accordingly.
Ammermüller is now just two races off a new record of wins in the series and has matched René Rast for total championships won. Four would match Patrick Huismann and five would set a new benchmark. Onwards and upwards, Michael.
Porsche Supercup renews F1® contract to 2022
Porsche recently renewed its contract to run Supercup races as part of Grand Prix weekends up to and including 2022. “We’re proud to forge ahead with this close and long-established partnership,” said Fritz Enzinger. “Formula 1® offers an exclusive setting with a unique flair. This fascination and high media importance represent an ideal overall package for our racing series.”
Supercup has been part of F1’s support programme since its debut season in 1993. Famous and fashionable circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps, Monza and Monte Carlo are regular fixtures on the racing calendar of the international one-make cup. Drivers compete in 485 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars: the racing vehicles are technically identical, as are the tyres and the fuel, guaranteeing equal chances for all.
“We are pleased to extend our long-standing partnership with Porsche for a further three years,” said Ross Brawn, F1’s Motorsport Director. “This one-make series provides some of the most spectacular racing of any series and contributes significantly to the show that’s on offer over a Grand Prix weekend. Furthermore, in the thirty years during which it has run alongside Formula 1, the Porsche Supercup has provided an excellent launch pad for many drivers who have also made their mark in international races at all levels.”
Porsche works driver, Earl Bamber, is so far the only Supercup champion (2015) who has gone on to win a World Endurance Driver’s Championship title (2017), although 2014 champ, Nicki Thiim, did win a World Endurance GT Driver’s Championship title with Aston in 2016.
René Rast was one of the most thrilling Supercup champions to watch. He has gone on to win the 24 Hours of both Spa and the Nürburgring, as well as DTM titles in 2017 and 2019. Double champion, Richard Westbrook (2006/7) went on to win the 2009 FIA GT2 championship, while 2001 champion Jorg Bergmeister won the 2003 Daytona 24 Hours and the 2006 Rolex Grand-Am championship.
In recent years, the Supercup series has become a bit of a proving ground for Porsche Juniors, with Sven Muller winning the 2016 title and Dennis Olsen running Ammermüller hard in 2017. I like to see cut of the Juniors in Supercup, but it does give me a thrill to see a proper gentleman-racer-with a-day-job like Ammermüller take the title. His trademark speed and class is what Supercup is all about. What a great job.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
Porsche has announced Simona de Silvestro as its first female works driver. Announced alongside Thomas Preining as test and development driver for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team, de Silvestro and Preining will carry out simulator work in Weissach as well as attending select Formula E races. The two drivers will also be available to the team for in-season testing.
Born on September 1st, 1988 in Thun, Switzerland, the 31 year-old de Silvestro brings useful single seater experience to the team. Her career began with a drive for Cram in Italian Formula Renault before she moved to Formula BMW USA, scoring five podiums on her debut season. Several seasons in Toyota Formula Atlantic followed, with a 2008 win at Long Beach followed by an excellent run in 2009, where she took three wins and led the championship for much of the season, eventually finishing third overall.
Simona made her IndyCar debut in 2010 and was crowned Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, starting P22 but eventually finishing 14th overall. 2011 saw a fastest lap at Sao Paolo in a crazy race where she was criticised for racing the leaders as they made their way through the pack. De Silvestro was nine laps down after an early accident with another driver – perhaps if the leaders were quick enough, they should have just breezed past.
The uncompetitive 2012 HVM Lotus left her with little pace to challenge for wins. A switch to Team KV IndyCar in 2013 brought a podium in Houston: Simona becoming only third-ever woman to stand on the IndyCar podium. In 2014, she came to Formula 1 as a member of the Sauber team under the guidance of Monisha Kaltenborn, but the agreement ended early as financial issues led to the team terminating the relationship. In truth, Sauber had royally screwed up their driver arrangements for the year, ending up with five drivers under contract and one driver taking them through the courts. The team was eventually sold.
In 2015m, Simona raced for Andretti in IndyCar, finishing P4 in New Orleans and inside the top twenty at the 99th Indy 500. Later that year, she made her Formula E debut in London. She stayed with Andretti for the 2016 Formula E season, becoming the first (and so far only) woman to score points in the series. She has spent the last three years racing Nissans in Australian Supercars but is excited to return to single seaters with Porsche.
“It is a great honour to work for this prestigious brand,” said whoever wrote the PR for Simona. “I am really looking forward to my new role as test and development driver for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. Over the last few years, I have gained a lot of experience from my previous involvements in Formula E. I will do my best to help Porsche on the road to success.”
After several disappointing seasons apparently through no real fault of her own, joining the Porsche team is a good opportunity. Simulator work is key – hopefully she can outpace young Preining in the virtual car and earn a run in competition. However, as a former Carrera Cup Deutschland champion and a contracted Porsche Young Professional with three top four GTE-AM finishes to his name as part of Gulf Racing, the 21 year-old Preining is already well established with Porsche as a hot shot on his way to the top.
It’s going to be tough for Simona to chip away at that level of embeddedness, but I hope she gets more than token attention at Weissach. As the dad of three daughters and having worked with several capable female competitors over the years, the gender imbalance in motorsport is shameful. It’s about time Porsche had a woman in their driver lineup: there’s room for more women in the supervisory boards also.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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