Formula E and IndyCar racer Simona de Silvestro will contest V8 Supercars’ Bathurst 1000 in an all-female team, AUTOSPORT has learned.
The Swiss driver is set to team up with Renee Gracie, a competitor in V8s’ second-tier Dunlop Series, in an additional Ford entry from the Prodrive Racing Australia team that currently leads the series with Mark Winterbottom.
The deal is expected to be announced in Australia on Wednesday.
De Silvestro and Gracie will be Bathurst’s first all-female team since Melinda Price and Kerryn Brewer finished 11th in 1998.
The last female driver to start the classic race was Leanne Tander in 2009.
The race will have two wildcard entries, taking the grid to 27 cars.
Dunlop Series outfit Novocastrian Motorsport will run a Garry Rogers Motorsport-built Commodore, driven by Aaren Russell and his older brother Drew, who raced in the second-tier class until the end of 2013.
Other recent wildcard entries at Bathurst include the 2013 partnership between DTM star Mattias Ekstrom and three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, who finished 10th for Triple Eight, and the debut of Super Black Racing last year before it joined the V8s field full-time for 2015.
