Penske president Tim Cindric has claimed race engineer James Schnabel has benefitted significantly from the team’s technical collaboration with fellow IndyCar team A. J. Foyt Racing.
The two teams announced their partnership in August 2023, which aims to bring short and long-term success to the respective squads.
On the immediate front, A. J. Foyt is making use of the technical support provided to them by Penske in chassis builds and setups, while the latter’s younger crew and engineers will be placed into the former’s team to gather valuable experience in the sport.
Furthermore, when Penske’s up and coming driving talents are ready to move up from Indy NXT, Foyt will be able to run a development driver on Penske’s behalf as the relationship expands over the next few years.
Already, A. J. Foyt have seen a resurgence in form from the collaboration, and speaking with Autosport, president Cindric believes Schnabel has reaped the most benefits from the partnership.
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Tim Cindric is looking to ‘grow people’ with Penske’s partnership with A. J. Foyt Racing
In 2024, A. J. Foyt are running an all American driver pairing of Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb, with Penske-affiliated Schnabel being the former’s race engineer.
In what is his second season with the team, Ferrucci achieved A. J. Foyt’s only podium of 2023 with a third-place finish at the Indianapolis 500, but it was also the team’s only top 10 finish of the season as he and rookie teammate Benjamin Pedersen struggled in the midfield.
So far in 2024, Ferrucci has scored seven top 10 finishes after the first 12 races and currently sits 10th in the drivers’ standings.
While it is still early on in Penske’s new relationship with A. J. Foyt, Cindric is already seeing the importance of the collaboration.
“I feel like being able to help people like James Schabel that’s over there working with Santino as a race engineer, it’s helping us grow people in this environment,” he said.
“At the same time, it’s helping him see where the top teams are from an organisational standpoint because I think it’s as much how your processes are and how you interact collectively as it is what setup is on a race car.
“I think you could have whatever the best setup is on the race car out on the track and still not be successful; you’ve got to have all the different facets of it.
“You have to continue to grow your people. If your people don’t grow internally, then they usually go grow somewhere else.”
Penske have also seen an upturn in form since the announcement of the partnership
As well as A. J. Foyt seeing an improvement on the track, Penske have also seen a rise back to the front, as seen with their impressive performance at the Indy 500.
The team managed to lock out the front row – the first seen at the historic race since 1988 – with Scott McLaughlin leading the pack.
Josef Newgarden went on to win the race in what was his second consecutive victory at Indy after he passed Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward on the final lap.
Newgarden sits eighth in the drivers’ standings, with McLaughlin fifth and Penske’s third driver Will Power sits the better of the trio in second, 49 points behind the leader and defending champion Alex Palou.