Team Penske Changes Car No., Promotes INDYCAR Engineer

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season is looking to be one of change for Team Penske. 

While the team retains its three drivers,Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, it is making adjustments throughout the squad in order to reap better results in the coming year.

Briscoe, the final driver named to continue with the team, lost his engineer Eric Cowdin to KV Racing Technology and driver Tony Kanaan after the end of the season. 

The move was easy for Cowdin and Kanaan, who worked together from their time at Tasman Motorsports in the mid-1990s and even through much of Kanaan's tenure with Andretti Green Racing.

To replace Cowdin, team owner Roger Penske looked from within his squad and promoted Jonathan Giuguid, who joined Penske Racing in 2005 as a member of the Penske Porsche sports car team, to be Briscoe's engineer. Diuguid has been a data acquisition engineer, a design engineer and race engineer in Penske's American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Daytona Prototype programs.

Briscoe and Diuguid have worked together for the past two years, as Diuguid was Briscoe's data acquisition engineer on the No. 6 Dallara/Honda/Firestone race car. "We always like to promote within our organization," said Penske, "and Jonathan has done a terrific job for us and he is ready to take over as Ryan's race engineer." Penske is the strategist on Briscoe's car and has communicated with Diuguid in that capacity.  

"Jonathan and I have worked together for several years now and I look forward to winning more races together in his new role, beginning next season."

Briscoe's car will sport a new number during the 2012 season, and Team Penske chose the No. 2 for the Australian's Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone entry next year. "We are making the switch to the No. 2 for 2012 because our organization has considerable history and tradition with that number and we felt this was the right time to make the change," Penske said.

Penske Racing has 142 starts using the No. 2 entry--with five different drivers--in its open-wheel history. The 2012 sponsor lineup for the No. 2 Team Penske car is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, the team said.

"I want to thank Roger and [Penske Racing president] Tim (Cindric) for giving me this opportunity and for having confidence in me to perform in this new role," Diuguid said. "I came to Penske straight out of college when I worked with Ryan on the No. 6 Penske Porsche in the ALMS program. We've enjoyed success in sports cars and in INDYCAR. Over the years Ryan and I have formed a strong working relationship," he added, "and I look forward to using that bond to produce results on the track with the strong No. 2 Team Penske crew in 2012."

The 2011 Indy car season had to be considered an "off" year for Team Penske. While two-time consecutive series runner-up Will Power was second, Briscoe was sixth in points and Castroneves a disappointing eleventh. As the anchor Chevrolet team for 2012, Team Penske has been testing the manufacturer's program car through the fall and winter.

© 2011 Anne Proffit