Overdue top five finish for Simona de Silvestro in Baltimore - MotorSportsTalk

Simona de Silvestro secured a needed and well-deserved fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix of Baltimore on Sunday. Yet her two IZOD IndyCar Series career top-five finishes could not be more different in terms of magnitude. If her first was about her star potential, this one was a sigh of relief after a challenging two-and-a-half year period.

Her first, at the 2011 season opener in St. Petersburg, heralded her as a star of the future in dragging an overmatched HVM Racing Dallara up to a place it had no position being. She nearly beat Tony Kanaan for a podium as Kanaan was racing with a new team, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, and an engineer, Michael Cannon, who had served as de Silvestro’s during her 2010 rookie campaign.

Flash forward to Sunday, and honestly, this was one earned by survival rather than outright pace. But it’s funny how things came full circle. Good luck finally fell on de Silvestro on Sunday, her 25th birthday. Since that first top-five she has had to endure several bad oval accidents, a full year with the woeful and underpowered Lotus engine, and has moved to KV this year as Kanaan’s teammate but not had a great season.

De Silvestro started 17th in the No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva Chevrolet and was into the top 10 for the first time on Lap 13, at the first caution. From there she largely ran anywhere between eighth and 12th but more importantly, never had major damage from any of the contact instances that popped up in the second half of the race. She was up to sixth on the final restart on Lap 66 and passed the ailing Marco Andretti to secure the result.

“I’m definitely really happy with P5. It was kind of a crazy race. I don’t think we had the fastest car out there, but we had a pretty good call on the pits when we got stuck in one of the wrecks,” she said. “After that we were able to move forward and had some pretty good restarts. The Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was really good at the end, so I’m pretty happy with it for sure. Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday.”

Throughout the entirety of the struggles she has maintained her composure and sunny disposition in a way few have been able to do. It was nice to see her break her duck on Sunday, but it would be even better if she could replicate the result in a race that isn’t such a lottery.

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The IndyCar Series has re-signed NTT as its title sponsor in a multiyear agreement starting in 2024.

NTT, a global information technology and communications company based in Japan, became the series’ title sponsor before the 2019 season after starting as a sponsor of the No. 10 Dallara-Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

NTT Data (a subsidiary of parent company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.) will remain the official technology partner of IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Brickyard weekend.

With the extension, an IndyCar spokesman said NTT would become the second-longest title sponsor in series history. The longest title sponsor was PPG from 1980-97 (under the CART sanction of the Champ Car Series).

NTT replaced Verizon, which was IndyCar’s title sponsor from 2014-18 after IZOD from 2010-13.

“NTT is an excellent partner across our enterprise with strong expertise and a deep commitment to our sport,” Penske Corp. chairman and IndyCar owner Roger Penske said in a release. “From Smart Venue technology at the Racing Capital of the World to the reimagined Series mobile application, NTT is transforming the fan experience in new and innovative ways. We look forward to a bright future together.”

NTT has used artificial intelligence-enabled optical detection technology at IMS to provide information to the track’s operations and security teams, helping improve fan traffic flow and safety, the track said.

“IndyCar is a great partner for NTT Data because of our shared commitment to driving innovation, increasing sustainability and delivering amazing experiences,” NTT Data CEO Kaz Nishihata said in a release. “We also appreciate how IndyCar is so diverse, with drivers from 15 different countries, and races that range from short ovals and superspeedways to road and street courses. It’s both an incredible sport and a wonderful example for our world.”

NTT also has been instrumental in helping redesign the IndyCar app and providing more race and driver data for use in NBC Sports’ broadcasts by utilizing 140 data points from every car in the field.

“NTT is fully invested in the development and growth of our sport and has already established a terrific track record in our industry with problem-solving capabilities and access to top talent and tools,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said.

Said NTT Data Services CEO Bob Pryor: “We’re thrilled to continue our collaborations that enhance and expand the fan experience for motorsports and serve as proof points for data analytics, AI, and other innovative digital technologies. For more than a century, this racing series has pioneered innovations making driving safer for everyone, and by continuing this relationship, we will accelerate the pace of innovations and new technologies, particularly related to sustainability that ultimately can benefit organizations, communities and individuals around the world.”

Starting as a Japanese telephone company, NTT grew into a $100 billion-plus tech services giant with U.S. operations based in Plano, Texas.