RLL makes engineering reset for Schumacher

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has appointed Todd Malloy, its head of race engineering, as Mick Schumacher’s race engineer for the remainder of the season.

Malloy, whose impressive record includes winning the 2011 Indianapolis 500 as Dan Wheldon’s race engineer and the 2003 Champ Car title with Paul Tracy, will step on the No. 47 RLL Honda timing stand starting with this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio and is expected to stay with Schumacher for the final eight races.

Jones, who came out of retirement to work with Schumacher at select races before and after the Indianapolis 500, will stay attached to the No. 47 Honda in a remote role to support Malloy and the rookie IndyCar driver.

“We're very confident that this will be a seamless transition,” RLL president Jay Frye told RACER. “Todd’s the perfect guy to take Mick the rest of the way this season.”

Schumacher opened the year with Mike Pawlowski as his race engineer before he was replaced by Jones, and with Jones’ pre-existing obligation to engineer RLL’s Takuma Sato at the Indy 500, Andy Brown was hired to engineer Schumacher at the Speedway. Jones returned to lead the engineering on the No. 47 Honda from Detroit through Road America before handing off the duties to Malloy.

“Road America wasn't too bad so hopefully we'll be able to keep the momentum going with Todd as the race engineer now," Schumacher said. "He is obviously awfully experienced at Mid-Ohio, so that's a good add-on to the team. I’m excited to work with him more closely. Obviously, I have been working with him all year but in a different position, so it’s good to have him on board."