Initially announced as one-race entries, Simona de Silvestro and Sage Karam will compete this weekend in the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana.
The 75-lap race on the 2.74-mile, 13-turn NOLA Motorsports Park road course in Avondale, La., is April 12 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN). Twenty-four cars are entered.
De Silvestro will drive the No. 25 Andretti Autosport Honda and Karam will drive the No. 8 Comfort Revolution/Big Machine Records Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.
Click it: Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana entry list
In support of the local community, de Silvestro will be carrying Ochsner Health System’s branding and the Racing For Kids logo on the car. She will be part of Racing For Kids’ visit to patients at Ochsner Hospital for Children on April 9.
De Silvestro, the 2010 IndyCar Rookie of the Year, qualified 11th in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg -- her first Verizon IndyCar Series race since September 2013 -- and finished 18th.
“It’s great to get another shot in the car and improve on everything we learned in St. Petersburg,” de Silvestro said. “I’m really looking forward to being able to work with everyone again and hopefully have a better race.”
Karam finished 19th at St. Petersburg in his first Verizon IndyCar Series street course race
"I’m looking forward to applying what I learned in St. Petersburg to this weekend," said Karam, 20. "We’ve run a few tests (at NOLA Motorsports Park) so I’m definitely more comfortable in the car than I was in St. Petersburg. I’ll be looking to my Ganassi teammates to help me with my learning curve so we can make sure the Comfort Revolution/Big Machine Records car has a good run in this inaugural race.”
Andretti Autosport confirmed April 2 that de Silvestro would drive the team’s fifth entry for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
“She proved herself both on and off the track. The great thing about Simona is that she keeps her head down and continues to push – she fights hard. We’re happy to be able to bring her back for another round before the Indy 500,” team owner Michael Andretti said.