Simona De Silvestro knew it was inevitable.

Reaching her personal car following practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the fourth-year IZOD IndyCar Series driver got a handful of grease upon grabbing the door handle. Thank you, Tony Kanaan.

“I had to do the walk of shame back to the truck and get some napkins and clean my door handle,” she relayed.

“Just the beginning,” her first-season KV Racing Technology teammate replied.

In fact, Kanaan is cooking up a Twitter program (@TonyKanaan) in which he’ll solicit eligible bachelors to accompany him and his wife, Lauren, and De Silvestro to dinner early next week.

“And if she’s nice enough and he’s nice enough, she is going to come to the (May 27 Victory Banquet) with him,” Kanaan added. “We might get a new sponsor. Maybe he has a lot of money.”

The good-natured banter underscores the growing rapport between the otherwise disparate drivers – he’s 38, from Brazil, has made 261 Indy car starts and won the 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series championship among accolades; she’s 24, from Switzerland, has made 210 fewer starts and fourth place is the high-water mark in her career.

“It’s definitely a lot of fun,” said Kanaan, who will attempt to qualify for his 12th Indianapolis 50. “I think we knew each other before she was my teammate, we got along even before that.  Last year she had a very, very tough year, which I appreciate. I was watching from far, and the way she handled herself was remarkable. I don't think I could have done that myself. So she deserves what I can do (as a mentor) and she’s extremely fast, so I got to worry about her (in the race).”

De Silvestro plodded through the 2012 season with an underpowered Lotus engine in the No. 78 HVM Racing entry (started and finished 32nd in the Indianapolis 500). It was the second consecutive dispirited Month of May after winning Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors in 2010. In 2011, she suffered second-degree burns to her right hand and superficial burns to her left hand in a practice crash two days before qualifications.

She gutted through the day, qualifying 23rd and finishing 31st (out by contact).

“Last year it was kind of a difficult month (of May),” she said. “After I crashed in 2011, I was pretty skeptical about the oval stuff. Maybe last year actually really helped me kind of not having any pressure, just going through what I had to do, get comfortable out there.

“I think that's really helping me this year because I got this the car, felt confident with what I learned last year, and that's been kind of rewarding.  When you take a big hit like that (on the Speedway), it takes a little bit of time to get the confidence back in yourself and in the equipment around you. So actually last year helped me a lot on the ovals.”

Joining KV Racing Technology in the Chevrolet-powered Nuclear Entergy Areva car, De Silvestro kicked off the season by qualifying third and finishing sixth at St. Petersburg. She heads into the first oval race of the season off back-to-back top-10 finishes at Long Beach and Brazil.

“I think anybody that qualifies has a chance to win (the Indy 500),” De Silvestro said. “For me it’s always been hard for me to put a result you know as a goal.  But I feel like if we really do all the work we need to and be as prepared as we can and get a chance to win it.

“Right now, it’s kind of going through every day and kind of not expecting too many things.  That's how it went in my rookie year and went really well because I went through the motions and then a pretty good result came out of it. So now, with a better team and a better engine and everything, things can work out. I’m working hard toward that goal and hopefully it will happen.”