INDYCAR: Tagliani, SSM Suffer Engineering Setback

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Tagliani, SSM Suffer Engineering Setback

Allen McDonald, who engineered Alex Tagliani's pole winning car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Indianapolis, is heading back to Andretti Autosport.

Robin Miller | Posted June 06, 2011 Indianapolis, IN

Britain's Allen McDonald, right, watches along with Rob Edwards, middle, as Alex Tagliani kisses the car he used to claim pole for the Indy 500. (LAT)

Allen McDonald, who engineered Alex Tagliani's pole winning car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Indianapolis, is heading back to Andretti Autosport.

It's believed McDonald will be paired with Mike Conway, the Long Beach Grand Prix winner who missed qualifying for last month's 95th Indianapolis 500.

The native of England is regarded as one of the best in the INDYCAR paddock and among his accomplishments are guiding Dario Franchitti to the 2007 Indy 500 and IRL titles.

It's a blow for Tagliani, who bested Scott Dixon for the pole in the shootout and SSM, which also leased Dan Wheldon's Indy-winning car to Bryan Herta Motorsports.

"It's a setback obviously because Allen was a big part of our little group's success and we'll miss him a lot,'' said Rob Edwards, the general manager for SSM. "We'll regroup and try to build a better mousetrap and we'll likely have to go outside and get somebody."

Edwards said SSM was looking at running a second car later in the season and it's thought to be former CART regular Katherine Legge.