The time has come. Simona De Silvestro is on the eve of making her sixth Indianapolis 500 start. She gives an insight into final preparations for the race in the sixth edition of her Brick by Brick with Simona exclusive column, presented by Chevrolet.

We’re in the last 24 hours before the Indy 500 starts so it’s all systems go with preparations for the race.

We got to do the parade today which is always cool, to see fans and get a bit closer and just really enjoy the moment.

I’ll have a pretty quiet evening with my family and head off to bed early.

I’m actually lucky that I sleep well usually, so that always helps. I guess with getting older you kind of learn that you just prepare as good as you can and then you just have to go for it and make it happen and that’s it.

So I will go to bed knowing what I have to do and hopefully things will play out like we’re planning to.

It’s important to eat well because we burn a lot of calories throughout the race, so a steak might be on the cards tonight, then a good breakfast in the morning and some pasta before we get in the car to be all ready.

As tough as this race is physically, it’s even more difficult mentally.

Everything happens so fast at Indy so mentally I think it’s quite draining and that’s the hardest part, just being sharp all the way to Lap 200 and just being focused on everything that you have to do.

You’re going 360km/h out on track and then you come to the pits which is much slower, all of these things can be pretty tiring, just getting the speed difference, hitting your marks, getting in pit lane right, getting in and out laps that are really strong.

So that’s really the focus, making sure I maximise what I do tomorrow.

There’s not much more to say for now other than to hope for some good weather and wish the other drivers and crews luck.

I’ll be out there doing everything I can to bring home a good result for Beth and the Paretta Autosport crew and all my fans.

Bring it on!

Sim