Team Penske Announces Change from No. 6 to No. 2 Car
December 20, 2011
For the 2012 racing season, the team will switch its numbers and will compete as the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet with driver Ryan Briscoe. In addition, Jonathan Diuguid has been named the new race engineer for the No. 2 team as it prepares for next season.
Diuguid has been with Penske Racing since 2005 when he joined the organization as a member of the Penske Porsche sports car team. He has served as a data acquisition engineer, a design engineer and race engineer in the team's Porsche American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and GRAND-AM Series Daytona Prototype programs. Most recently, he worked as a data acquisition engineer for the Team Penske No. 6 car team with Briscoe for the past two IZOD IndyCar Series seasons.
"We always like to promote from within our organization and Jonathan has done a terrific job for us and he is ready to take over as Ryan's race engineer," said Roger Penske. "Jonathan and I have worked together for several years now and I look forward to winning more races together in his new role on the No. 2 team beginning next season. 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 Racing has 142 starts in the No. 2 entry among five different drivers in its open-wheel racing history. The 2012 sponsor lineup for the No. 2 Team Penske car is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
"I want to thank Roger and Tim (Cindric) for giving me this opportunity and for having confidence in me to perform in this new role," said Diuguid. "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 and I look forward to using that bond to produce results on track with the strong No. 2 Team Penske crew in 2012."
Diuguid, Briscoe and the No. 2 team will compete alongside the No. 3 Team Penske squad and driver Helio Castroneves as well as the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car driven by Will Power in the new 2012 Chevrolet-powered Indy cars next season.
Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 350 major race wins, 412 pole positions and 23 National Championships.