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INDYCAR: Panther Bolsters Engineering Program With Tino Belli
SPEED.com has learned Panther Racing signed Tino Belli, James Hinchcliffe's engineer at Andretti Autosport, to join its team.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted January 10, 2013  
Tino Belli, right, worked with all of Andretti Autosport's young drivers and should help Panther Racing and JR Hildebrand to strengthen its 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series campaign. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
In the NFL, it’s a concern faced by every team that has a successful season: Win a lot of games and run the risk of losing your offensive and defensive coordinators to rival teams in the off-season.

Winning the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series has had its obvious commercial and promotional benefits for the Andretti Autosport team, but it has also had an NFL-esque downside with news of a second consecutive departure of a key engineering staff member.

After losing technical director Allen McDonald to Sam Schmidt Motorsports last week, SPEED.com has learned that Tino Belli, race engineer for James Hinchcliffe, has left to join Panther Racing. Belli is expected to work alongside David Cripps as a two-pronged engineering package in support of driver JR Hildebrand. Belli could also play an over-arching technical role that covers Hildebrand and Panther DRR's entry for Oriol Servia.

Belli departs Andretti after an impressive 14-year stint with the renowned team, and the respected Welshman’s resume also includes stints at Pagan Racing, Forsythe Racing and with the former Indy car constructor March.

His role within Andretti Autosport, beginning with its days as Andretti-Green Racing, has seen him work with a lot of young talent, and in recent years, he’s looked after Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick in addition to Hinchcliffe.

Belli will join fellow Brit and Indy car engineering veteran Cripps at a Chevy-powered Panther team that wants nothing more than to give Andretti Autosport and the other leading programs a run for their money in 2013.

Hildebrand, in his second full season with Panther, placed a respectable 11th in the final standings behind Graham Rahal, and the team as a whole made a notable jump in competitiveness on road and street courses.

The team also had the most dominant car at the season finale where Hildebrand streaked into the distance on the big 2.0-mile oval before contact with the wall intervened. Looking ahead, the need to win for the team’s longtime sponsor National Guard and to improve Panther’s qualifying and race results should receive a boost from Belli’s talents. His experience in nurturing young drivers should also benefit the 25-year-old’s growth in the sport.

Andretti Autosport is known to have started their search for new engineers, and with a number of race- and championship-winning personnel currently available, its quest to replace McDonald and Belli should be completed before the end of January.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, and covers the IndyCar Series. Before joining SPEED, Pruett worked in open-wheel racing for 20 years as a mechanic and engineer. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.
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