Sigma lose technical director.

CART FedEx Series team Sigma Autosport have been dealt a hefty blow ahead of their second year of competition with the news that the team's technical director and co-founder Dave Luff, has left the organisation he helped onto the Champ Car grid along with Dave Wieringa and Paul Cherry.

Highly respected English engineer Dave Luff is reported to have left second year CART FedEx Series team Sigma Autosport according to US based website www.seventhgear.com. Luff served as the teams Technical Director throughout the 21 race 2001 CART FedEx Championship.

The former McLaren and Brabham Formula One team member was an integral part of the 2001 structure alongside owner Dave Wieringa and original Managing Director Paul Cherry who has also moved on to pastures new for 2002. Indications are that Luff has departed on amicable terms and stated that he will remain in Motorsport in some capacity.

Sigma's sole driver, Oriol Servia, scored 42 points during the 2001 season which was good enough for 19th in the final FedEx series standings and there is a chance that the team could expand to running a pair of Lola-Ford's for the 2002 season. Second year driver Servia finished in the points on nine occasions with a best result of fifth, achieved at both Vancouver and Lausitzring.

The loss of such an experienced hand could prove to be a major blow to Sigma, who began showing real signs of competitiveness during the second half of 2001 with Servia leading convincingly for a while at Mid Ohio thanks to a canny fuel strategy before fading to ninth at the finish. Servia scored points in seven of the last eleven races of the season.