LUDO Lacroix has announced he will depart PremiAir Racing at the end of this year.

The Frenchman joined the Chevrolet squad as competition director at the start of 2024 following seven seasons with Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske and a storied spell at Triple Eight prior to that.

“Yes, I will leave PremiAir at the end of the year,” Lacroix confirmed in a team video.

“My contract finishes on the 31st of December. I’m committed to PremiAir (until then).

“Peter (Xiberras, team owner) has been fantastic for me. I have tried to do a lot. I am not excessively happy with our overall results.

“I came here with Steve (Robertson) at the time as the team manager, he is a good friend of mine, he was my number one (mechanic) in my DTM-winning championship, so somebody I really like.

“Things have changed since, I think the team is in a better order due to Steve, due to myself, due to Peter investing a lot in it.

“We have got a very good group of young engineers, passionate; Romy (Mayer) is still with us, I’m very proud of the data guys down there, so I’m really thinking on the engineering side that we’re looking good.”

A technical design genius, Lacroix pointed to the restriction of technical freedoms associated with the Gen3 platform as having diminished his ability to make a difference.

“One of the things that Gen3 has done, it has eliminated the special thinking. People like me are less relevant unfortunately,” he said.

“We still have fantastic speed in a straight and we have been checked many times on engine and aero bodywork et cetera, so I’m quite happy about what we have done all together, I don’t think we have made the car slow.

“But my knowledge has probably not had the impact it would have had in the past.

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s what the championship is all about these days: more common parts, more everything the same, very little to do in the technical area. It’s all about driving and driver management. So in that aspect I don’t feel like I can help as much.

“Secondly and mostly for me, I live an hour and a half away from the race team. I drive every day down the Gold Coast and back home and this is way too far for me.”

While disappointed with a return of one pole position, two podiums and no wins under his watch – with a final three races to come next weekend in Adelaide – Lacroix feels incoming team principal Roland Dane will bring success.

“I would have loved to get Peter more results; we have got two podiums. It’s not enough unfortunately,” he said.

“I think there is a new order in place; RD has taken over already and he is going to make a difference, we know that. Anybody that is thinking he’s not doesn’t understand the racing.

“It’s a new chapter. I’m not leaving the team and walking away at all… I’m still friends with Peter, I actually like the bloke a lot – he has got the balls to put his body in a (drag) car which goes 530km/h in a straight. That’s a true racer, he’s a true lover of motor racing.

“So as I say, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Peter Xiberras and his lovely wife Carmen, so we leave on good terms and we want to make sure that we go to the end and I help the team as much as I can (for) the future of development, looking at what’s happening for next year and how we can make (things) better.

“I am definitely not dropping the ball, that’s not what I do, I commit to my work to the end. That’s always what I have done, I will not change.

“So I will see you in the future probably but not necessarily in pitlane, maybe from somewhere else. There’s plenty of things to do.

“I have got a young son too which is go-karting these days so I have got plenty of racing left in me.

“See you soon, thanks.”