Promotion for Alan Permane at Lotus Renault GP
The British team continues its restructuring after the departure of Steve Nielson, whose functions will be partially taken over by Alan Permane, appointed Director of Track Operations.
The Lotus Renault Grand Prix team has announced the promotion of Alan Permane to the position of Director of Track Operations, just days after the scheduled departure of Steve Nielson, the team’s sporting director. Nielson had submitted his resignation during the last Spanish Grand Prix but remained contractually bound to the British team until the last Singapore Grand Prix.
Alan Permane will only take over some of the duties that Nielsen held and will work alongside John Wickham, recently recruited as Team Manager by Eric Boulier: « It’s very simple. Some of Steve’s responsibilities will be taken over by Alan Permane, who is now Director of Track Operations. In addition, John Wickham is joining our team and other changes will be announced shortly. I expect the transition to go smoothly » assures the Frenchman.
The 44-year-old British engineer began at the Benetton team where he joined the electronics department in 1989 before becoming a race engineer in 1997, a position he retained after the team was acquired by Renault. In 2007, Permane was promoted to the chief race engineer of the French team and was notably identified by the Daily Mail as Witness X in the Singapore crash scandal.
Alan Permane takes up his new role with immediate effect while Steve Nielson is expected to find a place in another team on the grid, likely with Team Lotus.
