Angelelli Joins Dallara in New Senior-Level Role

Photo: Jamey Price

Max Angelelli has joined Dallara in a new senior-level position in both motorsports and the company’s expanding automotive sector.

The former Grand-Am champion and two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner revealed to Sportscar365 that he’s now working full-time for the Italian constructor after selling his share in Wayne Taylor Racing last summer.

While Taylor indicated Angelelli’s retirement from the sport, the Italian has insisted he’s instead he’s still going strong but with his new role within Dallara that had been under wraps for some time.

“Like Wayne said, it became too much for me, the amount of time spent and the stress related to that specific business,” Angelelli told Sportscar365.

“I always enjoyed working with the manufacturer, first with GM and then Lamborghini. This is something I really like. So I have to say it was a mix of things. 

“To get closer to my family couldn’t be done as Wayne Taylor Racing co-owner. It couldn’t be done spending eight months in America. 

“I had to decide and as you know in our sport, there’s a window of opportunity and it’s always very small and very quick to close.”

While not yet having an official title, Angelelli said he’s been helping lead the firm’s sports car racing projects, including discussions with OEMs on potential partnerships for LMDh and Le Mans Hypercar projects.

Angelelli reports directly to Dallara CEO Andrea Pontremoli and works alongside chief technical officer Aldo Costa, who joined the company this year from Mercedes F1.

“You have to consider I’ve known Mr. Dallara since 1989 and I basically never really left that friendship,” Angelelli explained.

“We did a lot together in the past. We had a few projects together. 

“I’ve always been involved in something inside the company, as a driver for a long time, a team owner and recently working with GM at the beginning of the Cadillac DPi program.

“My last [project] was being the program manager for Lamborghini’s [proposed] LMDh project and that’s when I did the switch.

“Lamborghini ended [its evaluations] in March or April this year.

“Being inside Dallara already through the GM days, Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini, I was free and they picked me up.

“I did the switch overnight and I couldn’t do it later, as Wayne was going towards a new [program] so it had to be done that precise moment.

“I’m very proud of it.”

Dallara Evaluating Future LMDh, LMH Programs

Angelelli was on-site at last weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring as the company continues discussions with OEMs for prospective LMDh and LMH projects.

“There is opportunity,” he said of the current market for new prototype programs. “The fact that LMDh starts in 2023 makes it even more interesting. 

“LMH and the capability at Dallara, we can do both. Yes, there’s interest from manufacturers in both, to compare and get information, etc.

“It’s such a powerful and big company, Dallara can undertake anything.”

Angelelli said the current time is very exciting, especially with changes inside the company.

“Within Dallara there is a new group related to the LMDh. The company is evolving every week,” he said. “It’s evolving in such a direction that it’s a great direction.

“Unfortunately I can’t say too much but it’s going towards what a manufacturer needs. 

“It’s not that it wasn’t there before. But now with Aldo, it’s taken a completely different twist.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John