Tino Belli named IndyCar's director of aerodynamic development - MotorSportsTalk

Longtime team engineer and technical director Tino Belli has been named the INDYCAR sanctioning body’s director of aerodynamic development. He will officially take over the post in early April.

Belli was most recently technical director at Panther Racing. Prior to that point, he had worked for 14 seasons with Andretti Autosport, where he helped the team earn four Verizon IndyCar Series championships as race engineer, senior development engineer, and technical director.

He will be charged with overseeing the additions of new Chevrolet and Honda-supplied aero kits, which will debut next season. Additionally, he will provide INDYCAR with data collection to produce track-specific aero configurations; provide direction on future regulations; support various forms of testing (on-track, wind tunnel, and straight-line); and support the technical inspection process.

“It’s a brave, new era that INDYCAR is moving into,” Belli said. “My original background in racing was aeronautical engineering, so aerodynamics is my love in life. I’ve had a fairly successful career as a race engineering and technical director, and now this is a new chapter.

“It’s exciting to be involved now developing the new set of rules that will take INDYCAR into the future. I feel as though I’m giving something back to the series now because the series has always been giving to me in the past.”

INDYCAR president of competition Derrick Walker said the sanctioning body was “fortunate” to acquire Belli’s services ahead of the debut of aero kits, which should provide fans with more distinctive cars – a common complaint in the current spec-car era of the sport.

“Apart from being one of IndyCar’s most experienced aero engineers, he comes from the team environment with a lot of current experience and knowledge, which is important,” Walker added.

Belli’s motorsports career dates back to 1984, when he became chief aerodynamicist at March Engineering. His other exploits include working as chief development engineer for Porsche’s former IndyCar team, founding design consultancy firm Cyber Dynamics, and designing for the Fondmetal and Larrousse teams in Formula One.

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Tino Belli named IndyCar’s director of aerodynamic development

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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