McPherson explains Red Bull move

He has switched from Team Frosty to Team Lowndes after the two were fiery rivals in the 2014 Championship, but for engineer Grant McPherson, he still has the same goal - chasing down Jamie Whincup and securing a V8 Supercars Championship.

Over the last two years, McPherson has engineered Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison with Ford Performance Racing, and in both cases finished third in the standings.

Now pairing with fan favourite Craig Lowndes after a shock move to Red Bull Racing Australia, he's hoping the two can achieve greatness and go to the top of the table.

"I've been fortunate enough to work with brilliant drivers over the years, so it's just another driver to try and take to number one," McPherson told v8supercars.com.au.

"We've had a couple of good chats already in the last week I've been here. He's still got a lot of passion for it and we're both fairly optimistic about what we can achieve."

McPherson replaces Jeromy Moore at the champion team, who is taking up a role in Europe in the Porsche LMP1 program in the World Endurance Championship, and ran Lowndes for a number of years.

"They've clearly got a great setup going here [at Red Bull]," McPherson said.

"I'm just hoping to emulate and build on the success from Craig and Jeromy's relationship and help push the whole team forward as well.

"They've been the best team in pit lane for a very long time and I'm working with everyone here to try and keep them there."

Despite running title contending cars at FPR, who he had been with for eight years, McPherson admitted an offer from pit lane's most successful team in recent years would have been hard to knock back.

"In some ways it was an easy decision, and in some ways it was very difficult as well," he explained.

"The decision to leave FPR wasn't easy, it had been my home for eight years but when you're presented with an opportunity to join, clearly the benchmark team in pit lane, I was quite flattered ... so it was pretty difficult to say no to."

The priority for McPherson at next week's SuperTest will be learning the way Lowndes works, in preparation for the season opening Clipsal 500, where the #888 racer recorded a win last season.

"The biggest differences [between Lowndes and Winterbottom] for me are particularly related to feedback and debriefing, and as we haven't had much track time together it's difficult to give an initial impression on what Craig's style is.

"I know having scanned him [listened to his car's radio] for quite a few years, he doesn't seem to say much over the radio - but how much he says when the radio's off will be different, I'm sure."

Personally, McPherson will need to understand the tools available to him at the team and how the recently rehomologated VF Commodore responds.

"I haven't worked with a Triple Eight chassis or Commodore aero package before, so it's going to be interesting for me to understand the setup they're running here and the tuning tools they've got available," he said.

Another key challenge will come when he is more settled in October, with Red Bull having declared its desire to fight back at Bathurst after FPR's last two wins.

While he was part of the team, both the 2013 and '14 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 wins were on the other side of the garage for McPherson, making him also hungry for the big victory.

"As you say it hasn't been my car on the day, so to have a chance with this group and see what we can achieve is going to be a hell of a lot of fun," he said.

Ultimately, while he will be working with a new group and wearing a different shirt, the aim for 2015 is the same.

"Everyone wants the Championship in their career, and Jamie's set the world on fire - six Championships is an incredible achievement. And someone in pit lane is going to have to put up their hand and take his seventh one off him," McPherson said.

The sydney.com SuperTest kicks off Saturday February 7, with seven and a half testing hours. It continues on Sunday, with an official unveil of each team livery, True Colour Track Walk for the fans, and a final test session before the SuperShootout.

The full field Shootout will determine 2015's fastest man, who will bag a $2500 cheque from ARMOR ALL and head to season opening Clipsal 500 with an edge over competitors.