Tag: Arrow McLaren

Arrow McLaren on the clock to secure 2025 lineup

With the NTT IndyCar Series’ biggest free agent in Josef Newgarden taken off the table last week with a new multi-year extension to stay with Team Penske, the focus shifts to Arrow McLaren and its pair of high-profile seats to fill. Its current …

With the NTT IndyCar Series’ biggest free agent in Josef Newgarden taken off the table last week with a new multi-year extension to stay with Team Penske, the focus shifts to Arrow McLaren and its pair of high-profile seats to fill.

Its current lineup of Chevy entries — Pato O’Ward in the No. 5, rookie Theo Pourchaire in the No. 6 and Alexander Rossi in the No. 7 — has been formidable; among the trio, only O’Ward is locked into a long-term contract beyond 2024.

As the IndyCar season heads towards the halfway point, the team led by Gavin Ward has O’Ward sitting fourth in the championship with one victory and another podium, Rossi sitting directly behind him in fifth on the strength of six top-10 results, and Pourchaire — a part-time substitute who will contest the rest of the races — showing he’s capable of big things.

Based on the output and greater potential of its Mexican-American-French roster, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says today’s lineup could very well be its future lineup, but first, negotiations with Rossi need to reach a conclusion.

“I always think getting any big decisions done early is important,” Brown told RACER. “Whether that’s Kyle Larson signed and announced early for the [Indy] 500, or (McLaren Formula 1 drivers) Lando (Norris’) renewal done, Oscar (Piastri’s) renewal done early.

“We’ve got Pato signed for the long term. We’re very happy with Alexander Rossi. We think Theo is doing an excellent job after being thrown in the deep end. We’ve got two seats to get done, and we feel very happy with the two guys that are currently in those seats.”

RACER understands Rossi and Pourchaire share in Brown’s enthusiasm to remain with the team in 2025 and beyond. But if that were to change for either or both drivers, there’s free agent talent elsewhere in the paddock, starting with recent Arrow McLaren stand-in Callum Ilott, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay to consider for the Nos. 6 and 7 Chevys.

“And at the same time, there’s a couple of free agents that have our attention,” Brown added. “So I think we will work to get something done in the next 30 to 60 days to lock in both seats. I’m confident we’ll have a stellar lineup for next year.”

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It would be a surprise if the package of O’Ward-Rossi-Pourchaire doesn’t return next year, and at the core of the effort, Brown wants to establish the year-to-year stability that’s been lacking in the wake of the contractual shenanigans created by Alex Palou — who is being sued by McLaren for an alleged breach of contract — and the pre-season injury saga surrounding David Malukas, who was dropped by the team in late April after being unable to drive during the four season-opening events.

“Obviously we’ve had Palou’s situation, and then David getting injured, so it’s been a bit of musical chairs for us this year,” Brown said. “So we’re all keen to put that behind us, select our three drivers nice and early, get it announced, and focus on racing.”

[UPDATED] Pourchaire receives threats after Canapino contact

NTT IndyCar Series rookie Theo Pourchaire has received more than a dozen threatening direct messages since he crashed into the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy driven by Argentina’s Agustin Canapino with his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy on lap 60 …

NTT IndyCar Series rookie Theo Pourchaire has received more than a dozen threatening direct messages since he crashed into the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy driven by Argentina’s Agustin Canapino with his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy on lap 60 of the 100-lap Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old Frenchman was eventually ordered by IndyCar to surrender three positions for the hit, but it didn’t significantly affect his end result. As the contact happened, his No. 6 Chevy took eighth place while Canapino fell to ninth and eventually finished 12th. Pourchaire was credited with 10th at the checkered flag.

Pourchaire made his team aware of the first wave of threats, believed to be from fans of Canapino, hours after the race, and awoke to more threats of physical violence on Monday morning.

Adding to the complications is the new business relationship forged between Arrow McLaren and Juncos Holling Racing, which allows Arrow McLaren to place logos on the rear wheel ramps of JHRs cars when it has extra sponsorship inventory and is unable to fit them on its three cars.

The latest incident with social media threats marks the third related to on-track clashes involving Canapino. The first, in April of 2023, was aimed by fans at his then-teammate Callum Ilott at Long Beach. The second, also involving Ilott, took place in September at Laguna Seca.

“No one should be the victim of online abuse or threats,” read a statement from the IndyCar Series. “IndyCar has been in touch with both teams to discuss this matter and made certain where we stand. We all have a responsibility to reinforce a welcoming atmosphere and firmly denounce clear violations of online conduct.”

The teams issued a joint statement on social media in response to the matter:

Arrow McLaren and @juncoshollinger will not tolerate any form of abuse or discrimination. Those participating in such actions are not welcome in our online community.

Later, Juncos Hollinger followed up with a statement of its own:

“Following the racing incident that occurred in Detroit we have seen a rise of online abuse towards our competitors,” it read. “At Juncos Hollinger Racing, abuse, hatred, and harassment in any form is unacceptable. It is not tolerated within the Juncos Hollinger Racing community, and is not representative of who we are as a team.

“We are working with those affected to identify the individuals responsible, and any violators of this policy will be blocked from the Juncos Hollinger Racing community.

“We are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for all, and believe that no one should be made to feel unwelcome. As IndyCar fans, we must all work together to create a community where everyone is treated with respect and kindness.”

This story has been updated since its original publication to include statements from the NTT IndyCar Series and Juncos Hollinger Racing.

Pourchaire McLaren’s only shining star in Detroit GP qualifying

Pato O’Ward was infuriated for being sent out in the closing moments of qualifying with a brake fire. He ultimately messed up and stalled his car while trying to let a flying Kyle Kirkwood by and was relegated to starting 12th for Sunday’s Chevrolet …

Pato O’Ward was infuriated for being sent out in the closing moments of qualifying with a brake fire. He ultimately messed up and stalled his car while trying to let a flying Kyle Kirkwood by and was relegated to starting 12th for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

Teammate Alexander Rossi was infuriated after being held up while attempting to set a fast lap—as were many drivers—and climbed from his car farther back with a frustrated 17th in the starting order.

Only NTT IndyCar Series neophyte Theo Pourchaire was happy within the Arrow McLaren team as the young Frenchman, on his debut at the bumpiest and most unforgiving track on the IndyCar calendar, led the program with a fine run to seventh.

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The reigning Formula 2 champion has never experienced a circuit like the wavy 1.6-mile course set on city streets in Motown, but that didn’t stop the 20-year-old from being McLaren’s best when it mattered on Saturday.

“In the Formula 1 calendar, you don’t have any tracks like this because all the tracks have to be really smooth for Formula 1; Formula 2 [too], but especially Formula 1,” Pourchaire told RACER. “The IndyCar [chassis] is solid. The car is very, very solid. On this type of track, it’s really good to drive. You have to fight the car every moment, even in the straight line. It feels not 100-percent under control because there are so many bumps, and cars always have one wheel in the air. It’s crazy to think about, but it’s amazing to drive. I love it.”

Barring a nose-first hit to close the second practice session, Pourchaire has been quick and under control all weekend in the No. 6 Chevy.

“It was a nice start to the weekend, yesterday in practice one, just learning the track and getting used to everything again,” he said after last driving the car at the Indy Grand Prix. “Then in practice two, we made a big step forward with the with the car setup. Overall, really happy about the performance today from practice to qualifying. I think we could have ended up in the Fast Six, but it’s good. We are making progress.”

The downs and ups of Ilott’s wild day at Indy

Callum Ilott qualified 15th for his third Indianapolis 500. The Briton then went on to finish a career-best 11th for Arrow McLaren, but those numbers don’t speak to the wild events that took place with his No. 6 Chevy between the pace laps and …

Callum Ilott qualified 15th for his third Indianapolis 500. The Briton then went on to finish a career-best 11th for Arrow McLaren, but those numbers don’t speak to the wild events that took place with his No. 6 Chevy between the pace laps and checkered flag on Sunday.

Things went sideways for Ilott moment after pulling away from the grid to complete the four warmup laps, and it was merely the start of what the Speedway had in store for the 25-year-old.

“When you start the race, it should be pretty straightforward as it was for 32 other people, but unfortunately, when I was doing a little check of the weight jacker, it decided to creep up and get stuck on the maximum understeer side,” Ilott told RACER of becoming the latest of a few drivers to experience weight jacker issues this month.

“Clearly there was an issue there and it was something that obviously wasn’t anticipated by me or the team at the time, so I pitted and we went through power-cycling the car, ” he continued. “Then I suggested a steering wheel change, but that did not fix it. We couldn’t solve the issue, so I went back out and was catching back up to everyone to start from last. At that point, it was what we’ve got, so we just had to try and manage max understeer.”

If dealing with a car that didn’t exactly want to turn while losing a midfield starting position for being at the tail end of 32 cars wasn’t enough to handle, Ilott got to deal with the multi-car crash in Turn 1 on the first lap and did his best to avoid being included in the wall-banging affair.

“We did the start and I was very lucky to avoid that contact,” he said. “Unfortunately, I clipped Pietro [Fittipaldi] trying to go down the inside; I don’t think his spotter told him I was below him and I was trying my best to keep down low. Some people brake to avoid such things and others try and roll through them to avoid these things.

Ilott’s Arrow McLaren was jacked up from the start…but not in a good way. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

“Every pit stop we did from there was adding front wing to compensate for the understeer. And by the middle of the race, it was a pretty reasonable car. I couldn’t follow too closely, because as soon as I lost the downforce, I had no mechanical front grip, but I was able to sit quite nicely three car lengths back and just wait for opportunities. And then of course at the restarts as well and we tuned and tuned the car, and by the end, it was pretty pointy (oversteering) a bit more than I would have liked. But that was what was needed to stay in the pack and we fought our way through. I think I got up to P13 before a little incident with Kyle Kirkwood in the pit lane.”

Nerfed from behind by his good friend Kirkwood of the Andretti Global team nearing the race’s halfway point, Ilott’s stop took longer than desired after his No. 6 Chevy missed its marks in his pit box, and Kirkwood was given a drive-through penalty for the contact. Some blamed Ilott for the incident, and few felt the Andretti driver deserved such harsh punishment for the contretemps.

“It put me back down to last, and unfortunately for Kyle as well,” Ilott added. “I had a couple of checkups on pit lane, which meant he was right behind me. And because I was avoiding one person, I was a bit slow to get to that transition lane and then he was a bit slow to react to me. It obviously wasn’t intentional for either of us.”

Despite the frustrating start, Ilott gained confidence – and ground – as the race went on. Josh Tons/Motorsport Images

Feeling somewhat defeated early in the race as he struggled to keep pace with most rivals, Ilott’s Arrow McLaren crew provided a constant supply of encouragement. Forced to start from the back of the field for a second time, Ilott settled in for another come-from-behind march with knowledge that he could regain plenty of ground, but exactly how much — with the race half over — was unknown.

“Honestly, the first two stints, I really didn’t think I was I was gonna make it to the end,” he said. “I thought I’d be out on 105-percent rule. And the boys and girls on the Arrow McLaren stand were keeping me going. You can get pretty negative on how it might go. But it was a long race and when it was looking bleak, they kept me going. At that point, I learned a new meaning of understeer, or as Kyle Larson might call it, ‘tightness.’

“As we kept going and turning on it, the car actually ended up feeling not perfect, but a lot better than where it started. I was not massively competitive, but we definitely did great pit stops towards the end and we made big progress. I’d love to see the stats on who did the most overtakes, because I think we were in competition for that award.”

Last year, Ilott was lauded for starting 27th and improving to 12th. This year, he went one position better, but it involved going from P15 to last to P13, then back to last, and finally up to P11.

Altogether, Ilott and the No. 6 team put in a remarkable amount of work to deliver a result that flew well under the radar.

“I was just happy to get it done,” he said. “That race is never straightforward. I’m just happy with the team that that they continued to push and got me in the right direction through kind of every mishap and kept trying. All things considered, and with how disastrous it could have been at so many points, it was a really solid effort we can be proud of.”

Heartbroken O’Ward cracking the Indy code but still licking wounds

Pato O’Ward is convinced that he couldn’t have done anything different in the final laps of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, where he finished a heartbroken second after an extended battle with Josef Newgarden. “I think in a way I’ve cracked a code and I …

Pato O’Ward is convinced that he couldn’t have done anything different in the final laps of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, where he finished a heartbroken second after an extended battle with Josef Newgarden.

“I think in a way I’ve cracked a code and I know how to position myself to win this race,” he said. “I know I can win this race, and I know that I know how to also protect a good result when maybe the win isn’t in the cards for me.

“But in a race like that where it was a constant emotional roller coaster, where things — things weren’t going perfectly smooth, they really weren’t, but I think the team did a fantastic job, gave me an opportunity and called a really good strategy to then get ourselves back to the front and made a very strong overcut which ultimately put us into contention there in the end.

“Then just trying to get into the top two cars the last few laps was like… it’s so hard to do with these cars. You’re just stuck there, and you have to risk so much. I think on both fronts, on Scott [McLaughlin] and Alex [Rossi], I was probably a higher probability of shunting the car than getting back in one piece. But that’s what you have to do, I guess. Today we’re second.”

O’Ward and Newgarden battled to the finish. Josh Tons/Motorsport Images

O’Ward’s demeanor immediately after the race stood in stark contrast to Newgarden’s jubilant charge into the grandstands — he remained with his car, head down, helmet on, for some time after coming to a stop, and was clearly emotional when interviewed for the TV broadcast.

“It was just very wet in there,” he said of keeping his helmet on. “I didn’t want to take it off just yet. Just wanted to calm down a little bit.

“I’m fine. It’s been a tough month. So much goes into this race. I think I’m somebody that wears my heart on my sleeve. I don’t really hide anything. It’s just when you’ve come so close and you just can’t seem to get it right, it’s just a lot of emotion, I would say.

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“I think in a few hours [the pain will subside]. I feel very proud of what I did today. I really do. It’s just after all that work and all those very risky kind of choices that I had to make in order to put myself in that position, it just stings to not be able to just finish it. But it is what it is.”

Outside of his final showdown with Newgarden, O’Ward’s highlight reel moment was an extraordinary save on Turn 2, where the in-car cameras caught a whirl of corrections as he fought to keep the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet off the wall.

“It wasn’t the only [save],” he said. “I don’t know if they televised the other ones.

“Man, if there was one time where I had to put so much trust in my skill, it was today. There were so many times where I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work out.’

“I was so loose, so, so, so loose. It was just wiggling so much, moving around a lot. There were so many moments like that where I knew what to expect, but sometimes you just never know when it’s going to want to bite.

“That’s just what makes it so much more like… oh. Right? I risked so much today to put myself in contention to win this race, but that’s what you have to do whenever you’re stuck in line like that.

“I did it when it counted, and yeah… probably the most crazy 500 that I’ve had for sure, just in terms of issues that I was having within my car. So many moments.”

Big Machine Music City Grand Prix partners with Arrow McLaren

IndyCar’s season-finale Big Machine Music City Grand Prix has joined Arrow McLaren as an official team partner for the remainder of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season. The partnership goes into effect immediately, and Big Machine branding will be …

IndyCar’s season-finale Big Machine Music City Grand Prix has joined Arrow McLaren as an official team partner for the remainder of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season.

The partnership goes into effect immediately, and Big Machine branding will be present on the Arrow McLaren cars for the first time in tomorrow’s Indianapolis 500. Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will have representation on the cars of Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi throughout the season, and will be the primary sponsor on the No. 6 Chevrolet for the Milwaukee Mile doubleheader on Aug. 30-Sept. 1.

“Everything that Arrow McLaren and McLaren in general try and do is to be the most entertaining motorsports team in the world,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown. “It’s a blend of sport and entertainment, and to bring together these two audiences, I think, is very exciting.

“Scott [Borchetta, Big Machine Music CEO] has a, a great vision for IndyCar. What he’s done for Nashville — and done for IndyCar in Nashville and really globally — is awesome. So to come together, both being promoters and very focused on the fan, at the end of the day, I think we’ll put together a good collective show and cap it off with hopefully competing for a championship in Nashville.”

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Borchetta took over operations of the Music City GP following the race’s move from downtown Nashville to Nashville Superspeedway, located approximately 35 miles from the city. Borchetta said that he still aims to incorporate a downtown festival element to the event, even if the race itself is not there.

“To kick off downtown on Friday, we will have the pit stop competition,” he said. “We will have our fourth annual Freedom Friday, we’re going to shut down Broadway and it’s going to be our biggest lineup yet. It’s going to be live and free on Freedom Friday. We’ll have the talent announcement coming pretty quick, but it’s going to be billed as the biggest album release party in the world.

“Then we’re going to have stages out at the superspeedway on both days. So we’ll have a full lineup with music. I’m proud a few of the things that we’ve already come up with with our [marketing] team. I’ll give you an example: for our billboards around town, especially keeping the in touch with Nashville, on the corner of First Avenue and Korean Veterans Boulevard, we have a wraparound of around the building. It says ‘At 175 miles an hour, you’re only 11.2 minutes away.’

“So wherever you are and see the billboards all around town… if you’re in Brentwood, ‘At 201 miles an hour, you’re only 9.1 minutes away.’ So we want everybody psychologically to realize it’s not that far away, and then to come back downtown on Saturday after qualifying and practice. It’s going to be rocking there as well. So we’re going to keep it feeling like Nashville all the way to the checkered flag.”

Borchetta also confirmed that the guitar trophy — a feature of IndyCar’s last visit to the venue in the 2000s — will return this year.

McLaren fights through a day of Indy 500 qualifying struggles

It was a truly strange day for the team led by Gavin Ward. Kyle Larson’s first qualifying attempt was interrupted when an “engine event” – a fire in the turbo plenum – robbed power from the No. 17 Arrow McLaren/Hendrick Chevy. Callum Ilott’s strong …

It was a truly strange day for the team led by Gavin Ward.

Kyle Larson’s first qualifying attempt was interrupted when an “engine event” — a fire in the turbo plenum — robbed power from the No. 17 Arrow McLaren/Hendrick Chevy. Callum Ilott’s strong qualifying performance was disqualified when the No. 6 Chevy’s left-rear wheel offset was found to be illegal in the post-run technical inspection. Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Chevy was due to roll out for its first qualifying attempt, but the Arrow McLaren team decided it didn’t like something with the car and kept it in the garage for more investigative work.

Alexander Rossi rolled out and fired the No. 7 Chevy into the fourth-fastest speed in the heat of the day. O’Ward made it out and, as the team declared for the second time in two hours, another “engine event” hampered one of its cars and left him with the second slowest average of the day at that point in time. Larson, with a ready and recalibrated machine at his disposal, flew to sixth. Ilott followed in suboptimal conditions but salvaged a run that placed him 18th.

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O’Ward completed his first proper run at 3:39 p.m. and flirted with being on the second row but lost speed on each of the four laps and fell to 19th.

For Arrow McLaren, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the worst kind of roller coaster on Saturday, but it all came good in the end as Rossi (fourth), Larson (sixth) and O’Ward (10th) will run for the pole Sunday in the Fast 12, while Ilott (15th) persevered and was rewarded.

But not before Ward held his breath for what felt like hours on end.

“We feel like we made hard work for ourselves today, but at the end of the day, we were confident that we would get some good [qualifying] runs and be where we think we deserved to be,” the Canadian told RACER. “And that’s where we ended up. You always want more. This team has resilience. It’s just fun to see a team of racers come together who love to do this. This is the coolest day in motor racing.

“I can safely say that, with all my all my experience with everything I’ve seen, I don’t think it’s any better than Saturday when there’s bumping at the Speedway, and it is a chance to get to do what we love to do. Yeah, it was a little stressful at times, but you know, you’ve just got to appreciate you get to do this for a living. I love it man.”

Arrow McLaren confirms Ilott for Indy 500

Fresh off his first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar win at Spa-Francorchamps, Callum Ilott will look to continue his strong month of May in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy as the final driver confirmed within the field of 34 entries for the …

Fresh off his first FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar win at Spa-Francorchamps, Callum Ilott will look to continue his strong month of May in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy as the final driver confirmed within the field of 34 entries for the Indianapolis 500.

The Briton, who raced from 27th to 12th for Juncos Hollinger Racing last May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will attempt to qualify for his third Indy 500 and get the process started on Tuesday at the opening of practice for the great American race.

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“Callum brings experience with this team and at the Indy 500 that we think is very valuable as we enter the biggest two weeks of our season,” said team principal Gavin Ward. “He and the team got along well during the first two events of the season, and we’re looking forward to carrying that over here. I’m confident that Callum and the No. 6 NTT Data Chevy team will be competing near the front of the grid during qualifying and on race day, just like the rest of our cars.”

Ilott raced for the team at St. Petersburg and The Thermal Club; the Indy 500 is his last scheduled event for Arrow McLaren as Frenchman Theo Pourchaire is set to complete the rest of the season in the No. 6 once Ilott is finished in Indy.

Pourchaire to complete season with Arrow McLaren outside of Indy 500

Arrow McLaren has signed Theo Pourchaire as the full-time driver of its No. 6 Chevrolet, barring the Indianapolis 500, where the French rookie is not approved by the IndyCar Series to compete. Pourchaire, who subbed for the injured David Malukas at …

Arrow McLaren has signed Theo Pourchaire as the full-time driver of its No. 6 Chevrolet, barring the Indianapolis 500, where the French rookie is not approved by the IndyCar Series to compete.

Pourchaire, who subbed for the injured David Malukas at Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park, will wield the No. 6 car once more this weekend at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, hand the car over to its unnamed driver for the Indy 500, and return the week after at Detroit and all of the remaining road courses, street courses, and ovals in the wake of the team’s split with Malukas.

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“The IndyCar Series has some of the best racing in motorsport, and now I can say that with experience,” Pourchaire said. “I’m excited to take on this challenge with Arrow McLaren for the rest of the season. This is a special opportunity, and I am committed to learning and improving as we get on track each race weekend. I’ve enjoyed my first two races with the team, and I know we have plenty of potential in front of us. Of course, I would like to thank [McLaren CEO] Zak [Brown], [team principal] Gavin [Ward] and [sporting director] Tony [Kanaan], as well as the Sauber F1 Team, for making this all possible.”

Having impressed Arrow McLaren’s leadership with his speed and easy fit within the team, the reigning FIA Formula 2 champion, who serves as the test and reserve driver for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, has been released from his driving duties in the Japanese Super Formula series. The move was necessary to erase calendar conflicts with the Laguna Seca, Toronto, and Portland IndyCar events, and he is not expected to be called up for any Free Practice 1 appearances in F1 through the September 15 IndyCar season finale at Nashville Speedway.

“We’re excited to continue working with Theo,” said Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward. “He proved to be a quick learner, and we believe his skillset and learning mindset will support his development as he gets more comfortable racing in the IndyCar Series. Now, it’s about continuing to grow and turning those learnings into results alongside the No. 6 team.”

Although the team has not confirmed No. 6’s Indy 500 driver, Callum Ilott, who was hired by Arrow McLaren to stand in for Malukas at St. Petersburg and The Thermal Club, is listed as the car’s driver in IndyCar’s Indy 500 media guide.

Pourchaire set for first oval test with Arrow McLaren

Arrow McLaren is accelerating Theo Pourchaire’s IndyCar Series education plan by sending the reigning FIA Formula 2 champion to the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval on Monday. The hope is for the Frenchman to pass his oval rookie test, …

Arrow McLaren is accelerating Theo Pourchaire’s IndyCar Series education plan by sending the reigning FIA Formula 2 champion to the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval on Monday.

The hope is for the Frenchman to pass his oval rookie test, which would allow him to race the No. 6 Chevy at the ovals following the Indianapolis 500. Callum Ilott, who raced from 28th to 12th at the 2023 Indy 500 while driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing, is tipped to lead the No. 6 entry once official Speedway practice starts on May 14.

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For Pourchaire, the commitment by Arrow McLaren signals an intent to use him for most of the remainder of the season. Standing in for the injured and newly released David Malukas, Ilott piloted the car at the first two events, Pourchaire took the most recent two, and after Indy, Ilott has conflicts with his FIA World Endurance Championship program that would prevent him from handling the No. 6 car on the ovals.

Provided all goes according to plan at WWTR, Pourchaire could stake his claim on a contract for 2025 if he continues to exceed expectations for the three-car team.