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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Team Penske Makes Engineering Changes, Promotions
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric tells Marshall Pruett about the off-season changes he hopes will help deliver its first championship since 2006.
Helio Castroneves, left, and Ron Ruzewski, right, formed a highly successful partnership as driver and engineer. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
With the Penske Racing organization still riding high after winning its first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship last season, the proud, multi-faceted organization has done a bit of re-tooling in its pursuit of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series title.
The team has pared down its program to two cars this season after parting ways with Ryan Briscoe, and has also made two key engineering changes to strengthen its chances of earning its first open-wheel championship since 2006 with Sam Hornish Jr.
Australia’s Will Power, now a 3-time championship runner-up, will continue with David Faustino on the timing stand for the No. 12 car, but a major change has taken place with the No. 3 driven by 3-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Veteran engineer Ron Ruzewski, a fixture in the Brazilian’s pit box, has been promoted to a team-wide role.
“Ron Ruzewski, he's always been our technical director over the years but he's also engineered Helio’s car for quite a while,” said Penske Racing president Tim Cindric. “And we're going to move him to more of an overseeing position where he'll still go to the races. And when and if we run the No. 2 car (for A.J. Allmendinger), he would race engineer that car when it runs, but otherwise he would take more of an overseeing role.”
“He's already had that responsibility, he's just had both responsibilities and we feel like although that opportunity might not always be there to where he can take a step back, but it's something I guess you call a step forward or whatever, but it's something that he can help us continue to get stronger without the responsibilities of being a race engineer on a full-time basis.”
Jonathan Diuguid, who engineered Ryan Briscoe to the 2012 Indy 500 pole and a win at Sonoma last year, will slide over to assume those duties for Castroneves. Diuguid will have some big shoes to fill.
“Ron's won 14 races with Helio as his race engineer,” Cindric continued. “We were looking the other day, he's been part of 14 Indy poles and one Indy win and he’s had 14 wins and 22 poles with Helio. They've had some good success together. But Jonathan Diuguid’s is going to take over that car from a race engineering perspective, and we have all the confidence in him to continue the success with Helio.”
The team has pared down its program to two cars this season after parting ways with Ryan Briscoe, and has also made two key engineering changes to strengthen its chances of earning its first open-wheel championship since 2006 with Sam Hornish Jr.
Australia’s Will Power, now a 3-time championship runner-up, will continue with David Faustino on the timing stand for the No. 12 car, but a major change has taken place with the No. 3 driven by 3-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Veteran engineer Ron Ruzewski, a fixture in the Brazilian’s pit box, has been promoted to a team-wide role.
“Ron Ruzewski, he's always been our technical director over the years but he's also engineered Helio’s car for quite a while,” said Penske Racing president Tim Cindric. “And we're going to move him to more of an overseeing position where he'll still go to the races. And when and if we run the No. 2 car (for A.J. Allmendinger), he would race engineer that car when it runs, but otherwise he would take more of an overseeing role.”
“He's already had that responsibility, he's just had both responsibilities and we feel like although that opportunity might not always be there to where he can take a step back, but it's something I guess you call a step forward or whatever, but it's something that he can help us continue to get stronger without the responsibilities of being a race engineer on a full-time basis.”
Jonathan Diuguid, who engineered Ryan Briscoe to the 2012 Indy 500 pole and a win at Sonoma last year, will slide over to assume those duties for Castroneves. Diuguid will have some big shoes to fill.
“Ron's won 14 races with Helio as his race engineer,” Cindric continued. “We were looking the other day, he's been part of 14 Indy poles and one Indy win and he’s had 14 wins and 22 poles with Helio. They've had some good success together. But Jonathan Diuguid’s is going to take over that car from a race engineering perspective, and we have all the confidence in him to continue the success with Helio.”
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