Just spotted the news that the first signs of IndyCar reawakening have occurred, as SPEED’s Marshall Pruett has reported that two of Andretti Autosports crack engineering staff have departed the reigning champions IndyCar squad - with news that the team’s technical director Allen McDonald has returned to Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports and Tino Belli has joined Panther Racing.
Not sure who exactly McDonald was engineering at Mikey’s team, as the report says he returned to Schmidt because he wanted to be more involved in a hands-on engineering role, while Belli seems a bigger loss, having been thee Mayor ‘O Hinchtown’s (James Hinchcliffe) engineer, as Panther seeks to bolster its engineering department.
And I can only speculate, but; Hmm? Perhaps McDonald’s move could have something to do with the team adding a second car for rookie Tristan Vautier? A la Bobby Rahal hiring Eddie Jones to pump up his staff in hopes of running a second entry - but just a guess here folks...