Long-time Stone Brothers Racing engineer Paul Forgie has left the Queensland team.
Forgie was the engineer of the #9 SP Tools Falcon of Shane van Gisbergen.
Former SBR engineer and current team manager David Stuart will replace Forgie in the interim.
Forgie helped take Marcos Ambrose to his V8 championship wins in 2003 and 2004. He also followed Ambrose to the United States, acting as his engineer with JTG Motorsports in NASCAR competition.
Team co-owner Ross Stone says the change has been made in pursuit of another championship.
“While it is a great shame to lose someone of Paul’s experience and talent, we have to look at the bigger picture in our chase for another championship,” Stone said.
“Drivers and engineers need to have a certain chemistry and unfortunately in Paul and Shane’s garage, the collaboration probably wasn’t as good as it should be.”
Forgie says he was disappointed to leave the team midway through the year.
“It’s disappointing to be leaving SBR, especially in the middle of the season,” Forgie said.
“I don’t feel I have done anything wrong, just not enough right as we are only third in the championship and not leading by 200 points.
“Since returning to SBR in 2009 and working with Shane we have set goals each year which we have not always met … although the #9 Falcon is the only Ford to win this year, our poor qualifying has really let us down. When you’re performing below expectations some frustration’s creep in to the relationship.
“V8 Supercars is a very competitive commercial business and like any professional sport if things aren’t working as well as they should be, changes need to be made – you see football coaches, players and drivers all get changed when performance expectations are not met.
“I have enjoyed my time and successes over the last 10 years working for SBR and wish Shane and the Team all the best for the future.”
Stone expects that Forgie won’t be missing from the scene for too long.
“We appreciate all the hard work and success Paul has brought the team over the last two years and wish him all the best – no doubt we’ll be seeing him again in pit-lane soon,” Stone said.
