Dave Pericak Stepping Down as Head of Ford Performance

Dave Pericak will step down as the director of Ford Performance on December 1, according to Motorsport.com. After he leaves, he will return to the non-racing side of Ford as Engineering Director for Unibody vehicles.

Pericak has led Ford Performance since the unit launched about three years ago. Under his leadership, Ford took first, third, and fourth in the GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2016. He also led the introduction of new products including the Raptor and Focus RS. Prior to Ford Performance, he served as the chief nameplate engineer for the Mustang.

Speaking with Motorsport.com, Pericak explained how the development of Ford Performance will impact his new role. Soon, Pericak will be in charge of the engineering, interiors, and exteriors of Ford cars globally.

“We’ve been sending engineers back and forth between Ford Performance and the core as they come here and learn for a while and understand how to operate in this environment and then go back and teach the teacher if you will, then they go back and proliferate that through the rest [of the] company, he said. “So I’ll be able to go back and do that at a much higher level and a more important level.”

Ford Performance launched in late 2014. Its goal was to unite Ford’s regional performance engineering and racing teams into one global unit, helping the automaker bring out new products more quickly. At launch, it promised to deliver 12 new performance vehicles through 2020.

We reached out to Ford for confirmation of Pericak’s move and are awaiting the company’s reply.

Source: Motorsport.com

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