This past week, BMW Team RLL assistant engineer Uwe Wolf was promoted to race engineer for the BMW Motorsport TUDOR United SportsCar program after long-time race engineer Chris Yanchar made the move to Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I’m very pleased to elevate Uwe to the role of race engineer” said Bobby Rahal. “Uwe has been with the company for many years and has spearheaded our damper program on the sports car side and also the Indy car side so it’s great seeing him in this new position that he has certainly earned. We look forward to great things from him.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s contract with BMW Motorsport is up for renewal and it is uncertain if the loss of one of their lead engineers is any indication that they won’t retain the contract. According to SportsCar365.com, other teams have thrown their hats into the ring to manage the BMW Motorsport program next year. We should find out all the details about the 2015 program when it should be announced at the annual BMW Sports Trophy event in Munich.
Read the entire press release on www.rahal.com.—Nate Risch
About Uwe Wolf from Rahal Lanigan Racing
Wolf graduated from The Ohio State University in 2003 with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. While in college he was the co-captain of the Formula Lightning Electric Race team and later the shock absorber team leader of the school’s Formula SAE race team. Also while in school, he was a data acquisition engineer for Intersport Racing’s ALMS and Rolex Sports Car Series programs from August 2001 to March 2003 and won the 2002 ALMS P675 class (similar to current LMP2) Driver’s Championship. In addition, he was an assistant engineer for the wind tunnel test program for Doran Racing’s Rolex Sports Car Series team in December 2002.
After graduating college, he joined Team Rahal as an assistant engineer for Danica Patrick’s Toyota Atlantic program (April 2003 to October 2004) and then became shock engineer for the Indy Racing League program in November 2004. While focusing on the Atlantic program, he assisted the Indy car team with their 2004 Indy 500 effort that resulted in a win from pole. For 2005 – 2006, he was a damper engineer for the Indy car program and also provided simulation support. In 2004 and 2005, the team set the fastest qualifying laps at the Indy 500. He departed the team in September 2006 to become a test engineer for American Showa, Inc. and stayed with that company for two years before his return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan in September 2008 as assistant race engineer for the team’s ALMS, and later USCC sports car programs. He oversaw the damper department and electronic systems on the BMW M3’s and Z4’s. Wolf also provided support in Germany for the build and initial tests of the all-new BMW Z4 GTLM car in the winter of 2012 – 2013 prior to its 2013 debut. During those years the team won two manufacturers and team championships, one driver’s championship and a total of 10 wins and 15 poles. He was promoted to race engineer in November 2014.
