The Supercars Championship-leading squad recently signed German Alexander Lieschke, who has spent the last seven years working in Formula E.
Supercars’ loud and proud tin-top V8 formula is in many ways the antithesis of the all-electric open-wheel championship.
But in a world where Supercars’ control Gen3 platform has placed increasing emphasis on data analysis and simulation, the two may not be that far apart.
“We try to benchmark ourselves against other championships that are very similar to Supercars,” CEO Brenton Grove recently explained on MotorRacing 360.
“There’s a few championships in the world that have a very similar formula of identical cars, limited testing, driver making a big difference…
“I always talk about execution because at the end of the day the team that can converge on the best balance earliest tends to win the weekend.
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“Alex comes from a background of Formula E, which has a very similar philosophy in how the racing is to Supercars.
“Obviously they have energy management, we have a lot of tyre and fuel management. So bringing his experience [will benefit us].”
Lieschke joins Grove in a newly-created position as head of simulation and performance engineering.
Manufacturers in categories such as Formula E utilise hugely sophisticated driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulators through which car set-up changes can be virtually assessed ahead of – and during – race weekends.
While such DIL engineering sims are still in their infancy in Australia, teams have long used simulation software for car setup analysis and lower-level physical simulators to train driving technique.
Notably, Formula E events consist of a single practice session, qualifying and a race all on the same day.
It’s the same format Supercars teams faced during the last two events that featured Friday races, which puts a premium on having car setup largely sorted before even hitting the track.
Lieschke’s 13-year stint with Porsche also included time as part of its LMP1 sportscar program.
Tickford Racing too recently recruited an engineer from Europe, Rafal Lewandowski, who worked on Toyota’s LMP1 team.
Lewandowski has been credited for helping turn Tickford’s fortunes, which included hitting the ground running in Darwin and Townsville to win both Friday races.
“They spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of euros a year on racing two cars,” Grove continued of the manufacturer programs.
“The resource pool [Lieschke’s] had access to in terms of simulators and seven-post rigs and testing is far greater than what we’re allowed to do in Supercars.
“At the end of the day that’s retained knowledge.
“We want to tap into that, bring his flair and ingenuity into what we’re doing, and mix that with what our incredible team at Penrite Racing are already doing.
“Hopefully we continue to keep developing like we’ve done since we’ve been able to get Riccardo into the team.”
Italian Riccardo Corte joined Grove at the beginning of 2026 as race engineer to Kai Allen following a stint as a performance engineer with the Ferrari Formula 1 team.
Lieschke is scheduled to start with Grove Racing in October.
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