As the team's new Technical Director, Barnard assisted chief designer Rory Byrne with Benetton's challenger, the Ford V8 powered Benetton B190, which debuted at the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix, and late in the season took 2 wins in the hands of triple World Champion Nelson Piquet, which were the last 2 races of the season in Japan and Australia (the Australian Grand Prix was also the 500th World Championship Grand Prix held since the championship had started in ).