Ford Performance Racing team principal Tim Edwards insists that the departure of three high-profile engineering staff members won’t negatively impact his team’s chances in 2014.
Mark Winterbottom’s race engineer James Small confirmed to the team following the Armor All Gold Coast 600 that he will leave at season’s end to join NASCAR outfit Richard Childress Racing.
Small moved to FPR from Kelly Racing in late 2011, working last season with David Reynolds before forming a Bathurst-winning partnership with Winterbottom this year.
A life-long NASCAR fan, Small will work on RCR’s Sprint Cup program as an assistant engineer to a yet-to-be-determined car’s crew chief.
News of Small’s exit follows former FPR engineer Campbell Little’s move to the team’s customer outfit Dick Johnson Racing.
Little had worked with Alex Davison this season after four years with Winterbottom and secured an early contract release in order to take up the position of DJR sporting director prior to Phillip Island.
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Adding to the movements is FPR engineering manager Mathew Nilsson, who has been on workshop duties since August having signed a deal to move back to his former home at Walkinshaw Racing, where he will play the role of technical director.
“It’s not a concern at all to be honest,” Edwards told Speedcafe.com when asked of the impact of the three departures.
“It’s a shame that Techo is leaving us because he is a good guy, but he has essentially been on ‘special projects’ for the last six months and you haven’t seen us fall back because of that.
“Campbell will still be actively participating in engineering meetings that happen between the two engineering groups, so he’s still a functional part of the team. We’re just not paying him anymore!
“James is obviously disappointing but the reality is he’s going with our best wishes because he’s going to live the dream in NASCAR.
“I’m quite certain we’ll never see James Small again. He’ll go and live in America for the rest of his life and the only time we’ll get to see him is 38 times a year on television.
“It’s disappointing but we’ve still got a very strong group. There are another eight engineers in the engineering group. They mightn’t be as high profile but they’ve all played a very active part in getting our cars to where they are.”
On the positive front, Will Davison’s engineer Grant McPherson will stay with the team next year having resisted efforts to lure him to his driver’s new-for-2014 home Erebus Motorsport.
Edwards says that a decision on whether McPherson will move to Winterbottom’s car or stay on the #6 entry when Chaz Mostert arrives could be made as early as this week.
Mostert is currently being engineered at Dick Johnson Racing by Ford Performance Racing employee Adam De Borre, who plays the role of customer support between the two teams.
