Triple Eight has admitted it considered a last-minute reversal of its decision to replace Will Brown's engineer, just hours before the official announcement. Team principal Jamie Whincup revealed that Andrew Edwards, who was replaced by David Cauchi, questioned his decision after Brown's victory in Saturday's race at Ipswich.
Edwards, widely regarded as one of the paddock's finest race engineers, has been promoted to the head of performance role that had been vacant since Jeromy Moore's departure 18 months ago. The position became a priority as the team's form slumped this season, compounded by added workload from switching manufacturers, expanding to three cars, and taking on the Ford engine program.
Whincup explained that the recruitment process for Cauchi, who previously engineered him to two championships, was accelerated after the Perth round. The final decision was only made on Friday of the Ipswich event, just two days before the announcement. "We sort of knew what we were doing two weeks ago, but only finalised it on Friday," Whincup told Speedcafe.
However, an emotional twist occurred when Brown and Edwards ended a 12-month winless streak in Saturday's race. "Andrew had made the decision [weeks earlier], but after that crazy day on Saturday, he questioned, 'am I doing the right thing?'" Whincup said. The announcement, initially scheduled for Saturday evening, was delayed until Sunday morning after Edwards had time to reflect.
The decision is part of Triple Eight's efforts to address a performance slump that bottomed out in Townsville. Whincup stressed that promoting Edwards to head of performance was a role deemed harder to fill than finding a new race engineer. "We said, 'we can find somebody for that role, but we prefer to promote you up and find a race engineer'. And he said, 'I prefer to go to the head of performance role'," Whincup explained.
With Cauchi returning, Triple Eight hopes to restore Brown's form, which has lagged behind teammate Broc Feeney. Cauchi, who guided Whincup to championship glory, is expected to rebuild a strong rapport with Brown. The move also marks a new challenge for Edwards in his performance role.
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