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Red Bull considers restructure for Townsville

07 Jul 2015
Changes on the cards for Triple Eight this weekend, with technical mastermind Ludo Lacroix to miss the meeting.
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Triple Eight will be without its technical mastermind Ludo Lacroix this weekend in Townsville, but that won't stop the team from focusing on a fight-back from Jamie Whincup and car #1.

The defending and six-time V8 Supercars Champion sits eighth in the title fight but has an extraordinary record at Townsville, having won seven of the 13 races staged there, including two of the three run last year.

According to Red Bull Racing Australia boss Roland Dane, there will be a slight restructure within the team to cover Lacroix's absence at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, but he was tight-lipped about what was on the cards.

"We'll certainly be moving some people around for this race meeting because Ludo can't attend and never has been able to," he said.

"He certainly hasn't been in the foreground, so when he's not there we need to shuffle people ... the crew across the team, not just car #1...

"We'll see [what we do] when we get there, but we'll certainly work together to try and make sure we maximise the weekend as much as possible."

When asked if it was an option for him to step back in as team principal and shift Mark Dutton to engineer Whincup - after taking him to five of his six Championship titles - Dane replied: "It could be, but we'll see.

"I don't have any ambitions to be back managing the team, so anything we need to do really needs to be reflective of what we want long term, which is 'Dutto' for team manager."

Dutton shifted into the team manager role for 2014, with long-time Triple Eight engineer David Cauchi taking over on car #1. There was scrutiny on the relationship between the pair early last season, when Whincup was back in the Championship standings.

Lacroix was enlisted to travel to race meetings with the team from Perth and the turnaround began at Darwin, with Whincup ultimately winning the title in magnificent fashion in November with one round remaining.

While the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 is the first event Lacroix will miss this year, Dane didn't think it would have a big impact.

"For one race meeting it's not an issue. Frankly, we've won races without Ludo being physically at the track.

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"It's helpful for him to be there but he doesn't need to be there all the time. We've got other stuff going on he needs to concentrate on back here."

Whincup - who is 286 points from leader Mark Winterbottom - said this morning his confidence was not at a high despite his previous results at Townsville, but Dane emphasised the team was as motivated as ever to turn things around on car #1.

"We're planning to work harder, try and get him back into the sweet spot he's enjoyed there before.

"We'll work together to try and produce that and get him back to feeling confident," Dane said."He's made sure he's as focused as possible, he's been working very hard between Darwin and here to ensure he's fully focused on the program as much as anyone else here."

Dane is not concerned about the relationship between Whincup and his engineer and is just as mindful of advancing the #888 car and Craig Lowndes in the Championship.

Lowndes sits in second, 95 points from leader Mark Winterbottom, and is working with new engineer Grant McPherson this season.

"All the guys are a group of people, so I don't single out anyone," he said.

"I am just as focused on the fact that Grant and Craig are running second in the Championship and he's as close as he's ever been to the front of the field - at least for a long time ... so we're as focused on that as anything else."

Click here for details on the TV broadcast across the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, which begins on Friday.

The Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 will be shown on Saturday and Sunday on Channel TEN, with coverage beginning at 12pm and races LIVE from 4.15pm EST each day.

FOX SPORTS 506 will show the weekend in full kicking off on Friday and including all three practice sessions from 7am, as well as the weekend's qualifying and racing LIVE, starting at 7.30am on Saturday and 7.55am on Sunday.

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