Josef Newgarden will pursue his third NTT IndyCar Collection championship with a 3rd totally different race engineer in three seasons.

With the departure of Staff Penske engineer Gavin Ward to Arrow McLaren SP late in 2021, the North Carolina-based outfit employed former Pratt & Miller Engineering expertise Eric Leichtle to interchange Ward final season. Regardless of his lack of IndyCar race engineering expertise, Leichtle and Newgarden mixed to win 5 races — greater than every other entry — on the best way to inserting second within the standings to teammate Will Energy.

RACER has confirmed Newgarden will head into 2023 with one other first-time IndyCar race engineer in Australia’s Luke Mason, who joined Staff Penske in 2022 because the efficiency engineer on the Tennessean’s No. 2 Chevy. Mason transitioned to the Penske camp after serving as Carlin Racing’s IndyCar efficiency engineer from 2018 and race strategist by way of the top of 2021.

Previous to IndyCar, Mason labored in NASCAR as a race engineer for Richard Childress Racing, which was his first publish in the US; his expertise down underneath consists of quite a lot of engineering roles inside the Australian Supercars paddock and different associated sports activities automotive endeavors.

RACER understands Leichtle stays with the staff and has shifted to engaged on IndyCar engineering R&D initiatives.