V8 Supercars pioneer announces shock switch

This year's Supercars campaign will the third and final of Simona De Silvestro's career.

The Swiss driver, who first appeared in Supercars as a wildcard entry for the 2015 and 2016 Bathurst 1000, made history in 2017 as the first full-time female driver in the championship for four decades.

De Silvestro is 20th in the championship after finishing 23rd and 24th the past two years.

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The 31-year-old's future has been under a cloud for months after Kelly Racing's announcement that it was downsizing from four cars to just two in 2020.

Earlier this month, the team announced both De Silvestro and Garry Jacobson would not be driving for Kelly Racing next year.

A deal as a development driver with Porsche's Formula E program created further doubt about De Silvestro's ongoing commitment to racing in Australia.

"I have a great opportunity with Porsche and I'm going to have some racing plans announced in December... but I can't say what it is yet," De Silvestro told the Supercars website before this weekend's Sandown 500.

"So for me it is just a really big opportunity and as a driver it's always something you kind of work towards, to have a team and a brand hire you, so it's pretty exciting times for me."

Despite struggling for success during her three Supercars seasons, De Silvestro didn't rule out returning as a co-driver for next year's endurance events.

In other driver news on Friday, it has been confirmed Scott Pye will join Charlie Schwerkolt's expanded two-car Team 18 next year.

Earlier this year, Walkinshaw Andretti United announced Pye wouldn't be staying with the former Holden factory team after three seasons.

The 29-year-old will race alongside Mark Winterbottom at his new team in 2020.