Malukas to miss $1m Thermal Club IndyCar race

David Malukas doesn’t like watching another person drive his race car, but he’ll need to adjust to that dynamic as the new Arrow McLaren driver will miss not only this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but also IndyCar’s subsequent …

David Malukas doesn’t like watching another person drive his race car, but he’ll need to adjust to that dynamic as the new Arrow McLaren driver will miss not only this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but also IndyCar’s subsequent event at The Thermal Club — its non-championship $1 Million Challenge — as he recovers from injuries to his left wrist and fingers suffered during pre-season training.

“Thermal’s definitely going to be a no,” Malukas told RACER. “That’s still going to be in the recovery time, but everything after that is to be determined. Hopefully we can be there by Long Beach.

“I’m doing good. Recovery time is good; I’m on track, I’ve got fingers moving. Everything in the hand is good; it’s just a little bit in the wrist. That’s got to stay stationary. The plan is soon, in the next couple of weeks, I can start moving it.”

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Malukas will be on the timing stand with the No. 6 Chevy team this weekend as his friend Callum Ilott steers the car on his behalf. According to Arrow McLaren, the team will wait until after St. Petersburg to name its driver for the March 22-24 testing and all-star event in Thermal, Calif.

“That is the toughest thing through all of this, seeing somebody else driving your car,” Malukas added. “I love Callum, though. Of all the drivers, Callum was the way to go.”

2024 IndyCar form guide: Arrow McLaren

Arrow McLaren No. 5 Chevy: Pato O’Ward (4th in 2023 championship) No. 6 Chevy: David Malukas (17th in 2023 championship with Dale Coyne Racing) No. 7 Chevy: Alexander Rossi (9th in 2023 championship) THINGS TO KNOW One, two, or three? Arrow McLaren …

Arrow McLaren

No. 5 Chevy: Pato O’Ward (4th in 2023 championship)

No. 6 Chevy: David Malukas (17th in 2023 championship with Dale Coyne Racing)

No. 7 Chevy: Alexander Rossi (9th in 2023 championship)

THINGS TO KNOW

One, two, or three?

Arrow McLaren doesn’t find itself in the same exact position as Andretti Global with needing to break free from its recent mediocrity, but there is a parallel in needing to break free from the vast expanse that separates it from Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske.

As a two-car team, Pato O’Ward was Arrow McLaren’s best and only contender to apply pressure to Ganassi and Penske from 2020-2022, but with the increase to three cars in 2023, his status as Arrow McLaren’s lone title challenger remained unchanged.

Bringing Alexander Rossi on board last year to join O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist was done with the expectation for the Indianapolis 500 winner to provide the team with a stronger presence towards the front of the field—to give O’Ward another running partner—and give Arrow McLaren at least a dual threat at every round like Ganassi has with Scott Dixon and Alex Palou and Penske has with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. But that didn’t happen.

That’s the main mission for the team to establish in 2024. Although O’Ward went winless last season, he lived on the podium, and through those seven top threes, he was able to shadow the two top teams. The outgoing Rosenqvist took two poles and made two trips to the podium while Rossi made one trip to the podium, which is where the disparity is most readily identified.

For Arrow McLaren to shorten or erase the gap to Ganassi and Penske, getting back to victory lane with O’Ward and dialing up the podiums for Rossi — and resuming his winning ways — is a must. At least two of its cars have to be in the hunt wherever they race if Arrow McLaren is going to bridge that championship gap because their rivals are too strong for O’Ward to get the job done without help.

For the team to truly contend, it will need most of its cars near the front, taking valuable points that would otherwise be earned by their rivals, and making it a three-way attack with the entry meant to be piloted by the injured David Malukas would be a wonderful development for Arrow McLaren as a whole.

Titles are won as a team. How will this squad fare in that unwavering challenge?

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LFGOOOOO time for Pato

The quality of Arrow McLaren’s championship competitiveness lives and dies with O’Ward. Separate from their squad goals, the 24-year-old Mexican is the team’s fastest and fiercest driver, and on an individual level, he’s also entering a crucial phase of his career.

Like his Indy Lights teammate Colton Herta, O’Ward’s been a force in the championship for most of his time in IndyCar, but small issues have kept him from breaking through to lead the standings for significant lengths of time. Streaking away from pole and building a huge lead has been impressive, but the accelerated tire wear awaiting O’Ward on the second half of a stint has turned a few too many big results into lesser ones. Looking at the task ahead, the burning motivation to prove he’s faster than everyone must be left in the past.

This is the year where he needs to find and strike the balance between attacking and conserving because that’s how IndyCar championships are won. That’s the formula all of the most recent title winners have used to such great effect, and in 2024, that’s precisely what O’Ward needs to deliver if he’s going to take that final step to reach his full potential.

With five seasons of experience to draw from — the last four at Arrow McLaren — the spotlight if firmly placed on O’Ward to take the team to the promised land, and that will only happen if he’s locked into a ‘big picture’ mindset from the first race.

Nobody would accuse Ganassi’s Alex Palou of being IndyCar’s fastest pilot, but he’s already a two-time champion who is of a similar age to O’Ward and entered the series as a full-timer in the same season. If there’s a blueprint for him to follow in this quest, it’s Palou. (And we’ll leave the topic of Palou almost becoming his teammate alone for now…)

One can’t say O’Ward’s eyes aren’t on the prize, but he’s Arrow McLaren’s longest-serving driver and that brings with it a level of pressure most others won’t have. Motorsport Images

It’s a lot to ask of any driver, but he and the team can’t afford to stay in that second-best category any longer. A new contract extension speaks to the faith Arrow McLaren has in O’Ward, and no team spends more on its program—including its engineering resources—than this one. The weight of expectations on its lead driver cannot be underestimated.

The old line about extreme pressure either bursting pipes or making diamonds comes to mind here for O’Ward. If he’s fortunate, Rossi and Malukas will take away some of that pressure by joining him in the thick of the action.

The days of Arrow McLaren being happy with coming close to the championship heavyweights are officially over and IndyCar’s most popular driver is the one carrying all of the team’s hopes to deliver.

Engineering shuffle

Arrow McLaren lost one of its greatest engineering minds in Craig Hampson shortly after the last season concluded. He was specifically targeted by Rossi as the engineer he wanted to work with upon joining the team, but it only lasted one year when Hampson decided he needed a break from the sport.

In his place, team veteran Chris Lawrence, Rosenqvist’s race engineer from 2023, has been moved from the No. 6 car to Rossi’s No. 7, and based on how Rosenqvist raved about all aspects of Lawrence’s capabilities, Rossi is in good hands and should be able to take another leap forward with the team.

With Lawrence’s absence creating a vacancy in the No. 6, Arrow McLaren has surfaced a team veteran in Blair Perschbacher, who was Robert Wickens’ race engineer when he blitzed the series as a rookie in 2018, and assigned him to engineer Malukas (and his stand-in) this year. It’s a strong choice, and for Malukas, a calm, process-driven presence on the timing stand should help in his technical development.

New dynamic

O’Ward spent the last few years racing with his best IndyCar friend in Felix Rosenqvist alongside him in the team. They were a great twosome, didn’t let their inner competitiveness get in the way of being each other’s support system, and fit perfectly together within Arrow McLaren, with the Swede being the older and more mature driver in that dynamic.

That level of comfort and camaraderie won’t be the same with Rosenqvist gone to Meyer Shank Racing, but that might be a good thing for O’Ward. Rossi and Malukas are great to have at teammates, and Rossi’s maturity and business-like approach is beloved within the program, but if O’Ward’s going to grow into the true team-wide leader that he needs to be, it’s time—despite his relative youth—to take the reins, fill Rosenqvist’s void, and lead all aspects of the program among Arrow McLaren’s drivers.

It’s another big piece of his development puzzle. O’Ward’s been the de facto leader due to his team-leading speed and results, but that’s altogether different than stepping up to lead from the inside and shape the program in all the ways it needs.

Rossi in a prove-it year

It’s time for Rossi to really show the rest of the field this view. His future depends on it. Josh Tons/Motorsport Images

It wasn’t the easiest year for Rossi as he learned to work with a new team, new teammates, and a new engine partner after spending 2016-2022 with Honda, but on debut, he did match his ninth-place championship run from his final season with Andretti Global. But ninth isn’t what he wanted, nor is it what Arrow McLaren needed because it already had something similar from Rosenqvist.

Beyond all of the points raised so far about the team being under the gun to displace Ganassi and/or Penske in the standings, and for Rossi needing to become a big player in that initiative by shadowing or beating O’Ward on a regular basis, we have the most pressing personal need for Rossi to handle, and that’s to earn a contract extension.

Entering the second of a two-year deal, the last thing Rossi can afford is to find himself four or five positions behind O’Ward after the Indy 500. If, like in 2023, the separation between them is hard to ignore, McLaren won’t be waiting to see how the rest of the season goes before opening talks with potential replacements.

This is a full and undeniable prove-it year for Rossi at Arrow McLaren, and every person within the team is rooting for him to succeed and receive another multi-year contract because he’s loved within the organization for all he brings. Rossi’s contributions in engineering debriefs, to the engine techs at Chevy, to the commercial and marketing side, and for always being an ultra-professional leader within the program are continually hailed as factors that have made him indispensable in just one season.

And with that deep foundation established, all Rossi needs to do is deliver in the same way he did when he placed second and third for Andretti in 2018-2019, respectively. For Rossi, 2024 is going to be a turning point in his career. It’s another instance of busting pipes or making diamonds. Once the season is over, he’ll either be staying with Arrow McLaren and prospering or hunting for a new team home.

Grace

One of the rising mechanical stars within Arrow McLaren is Grace Hackenberg. She’s still somewhat new to IndyCar, but Hackenberg has become a valued member of the pit crew, and this year, she’ll add to the growing ranks of women who go over the pit wall in all the races. Look for Hackenberg changing Rossi’s inside front tire at every round, which is a first for her.

A Malukas mystery to solve

Will the signing of David Malukas turn out to be the smartest out-of-left-field move in Arrow McLaren’s history? He wasn’t on their radar until some of the more established veterans on the free agent market became unavailable, so in the last month of the season, the team took a no-risk decision by bringing in the 22-year-old from Illinois on a prove-it deal of his own.

Malukas dealt with constant change over his two seasons at Dale Coyne Racing, which stunted his development. Even so, he managed to impress on a number of occasions, and especially on the ovals, which is what caught his new team’s attention. At Arrow McLaren, he has all of the personal and professional tools a young driver could want, and it’s here where Malukas can turn those occasional shining moments into more frequent appearances at the sharp end of the field.

In contrast to his teammates who are proven commodities, we just don’t know how high Malukas can rise because he’s entering his first opportunity to fight among the top two or three teams and show everyone what he’s made of. The question to answer is quite basic: What kind of talent does Malukas possess? Pitted against O’Ward, he’ll get an answer, and swiftly. The same goes with Rossi.

Once he’s able to start his season and he’s given a few races to settle in and get a feel for Arrow McLaren’s approach to chassis setup and Chevy’s approach to engine tuning, we’ll know if Malukas has a future with the team.

Based on his time at Coyne, he’s worthy of the chance to complement O’Ward and Rossi, but the same note about Rossi applies here. He wasn’t brought in to finish behind his teammates, and with a couple of really strong free agents for the team to consider for 2025, Malukas does need to stake his claim in the No. 6 or risk being one-and-done with Arrow McLaren.

Ilott looming?

Callum Ilott, who tested in place of Malukas in February, is expected to get the nod to drive the No. 6 at St. Petersburg and possibly more—the Thermal Club event is two weeks later, and there’s a group test at Barber in Alabama right after—that could be questionable for Malukas if he needs more time to heal after wrist surgery.

Make no mistake about Ilott and McLaren; the team is beyond curious to see how he integrates into the program and how he performs alongside its returning drivers. Ilott’s signed to do the full eight-race FIA World Endurance Championship calendar in the Hypercar class, so he does have a few date conflicts with IndyCar, but could be pressed into service by this team or others for more than half of the season if desired.

Only O’Ward is guaranteed to be with Arrow McLaren next year, so getting an early look at Ilott would go a long way to deciding whether he’d get an offer to come back as a full-timer if Rossi or Malukas aren’t kept. Among the other young IndyCar chargers, Rinus VeeKay and Christian Lundgaard are headed towards free agency at the end of the season (if they don’t sign extensions beforehand with their existing teams).

Put it all together and McLaren CEO Zak Brown, sporting director Tony Kanaan, and team principal Gavin Ward have some promising talent to pursue if the No. 6 or No. 7 would benefit from a competitive upgrade.

Pressure: It’s the common influence that links Arrow McLaren’s driving trio in big and vastly different ways in 2024.

Honoring Gil

Arrow McLaren will honor their late and beloved colleague Gil de Ferran on their cars and crew this season. It’s a classy move; along with logos placed on the three cars, look for pit crew members to sport de Ferran stickers on their helmets to pay tribute to the CART champion and Indy 500 winner who helped shape McLaren’s IndyCar and Formula 1 programs before his untimely death in December.

Arrow McLaren to run three cars with two drivers at Sebring test

Next week’s two-day test for the entire 27-car NTT IndyCar Series field at Sebring will feature a revised run plan for Arrow McLaren’s drivers and entries. In light of the injury and sidelining of David Malukas with the No. 6 Chevy through at least …

Next week’s two-day test for the entire 27-car NTT IndyCar Series field at Sebring will feature a revised run plan for Arrow McLaren’s drivers and entries.

In light of the injury and sidelining of David Malukas with the No. 6 Chevy through at least the opening race of the season, Arrow McLaren will head to the Monday-Tuesday test with three cars and two drivers.

Although the team procured free agent Callum Ilott to handle hybrid testing duties on Wednesday to fill the spot reserved for Malukas, the former Juncos Hollinger Racing driver is unable to test for Arrow McLaren at Sebring due to conflicts with his FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities with Hertz Team Jota in Qatar.

As such, the team has elected to send the Nos. 5, 6, and 7 Chevys to Sebring and put Pato O’Ward to work shaking down his No. 5 car and then switch over to the No. 6 which will be raced by whomever Arrow McLaren nominates for the March 8-10 event at St. Petersburg.

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The full-field test is an important one for all of IndyCar’s 10 season-long teams as it will represent the first outing for many drivers in cars that are outfitted with all of the 2024 hybrid-specification components, which include a number of lightweight drive train items, but not the energy recovery system itself.

Minus the ERS package—the motor generator unit and the supercapacitor energy storage system—the early-season chassis configuration weighs approximately 30 pounds less than the cars which contested the final race of 2023. Although the 10 teams were allowed to run one car in 2024 specifications at a Homestead-Miami test in January, and most teams cycled their drivers through those single cars over the three-day test, the Sebring test will give plenty of drivers the first opportunity to pilot their own car and with their full-season crew in charge of the vehicle.

“I’m looking forward to getting the season started, and this is the last chance we have to kind of get back in the groove – drivers, engineers, mechanics,” O’Ward said. “Getting the team flowing again is the most important thing. We get to test out a few more of the bits and pieces we’ve developed over the offseason to see what works and what doesn’t. Then we’ll try to arrive to St. Pete with the best package possible and roll off strong. I haven’t been to Sebring in a bit, but I’m excited to go back.”

Unrelated to Arrow McLaren, the identities of 25 of the 27 drivers who will run at Sebring are known, leaving only Dale Coyne Racing, which is participating in the test, to name its drivers for the last pre-season test of the year and for the following week’s curtain raiser in St. Petersburg.

Malukas out for six weeks following wrist surgery

David Malukas will be sidelined for the start of the new NTT IndyCar Series season, and as a result, his Arrow McLaren team is working to identify a temporary replacement for its new young driver in the No. 6 Chevy. “Following a mountain biking …

David Malukas will be sidelined for the start of the new NTT IndyCar Series season, and as a result, his Arrow McLaren team is working to identify a temporary replacement for its new young driver in the No. 6 Chevy.

“Following a mountain biking incident this weekend, David Malukas successfully underwent surgery on Tuesday, February 13 to repair torn ligaments in his dislocated left wrist,” the team announced. “His recovery timeline is estimated to be six weeks following the removal of his stitches February 22. The team is currently evaluating reserve driver options for the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and will announce the driver in due course.”

Malukas was understandably disappointed.

“I’m gutted this happened, especially so close to the season,” he said. “I feel horrible for the team who have worked so hard to prepare for our first season together. I will be working hard to get back on track as soon as I can. I can’t wait to go racing with the team in papaya.”

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The incident has not diminished the 22-year-old’s standing within the team.

“It’s just heartbreaking for David, of course, and our entire team,” said team principal Gavin Ward. “We’ve seen how much work he and this entire group has put into preparing for his first season in papaya. But it’s often how we recover from setbacks and adversity that defines us and our character. We will do everything we can to support David in his recovery and when he’s back on track the success will be all the sweeter.”

Arrow McLaren unveils O’Ward’s No. 5 IndyCar

The Arrow McLaren completed its reveal of liveries for its NTT IndyCar Series entries with today’s look at the 2024 No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Pato O’Ward. This year’s incarnation features more prominent black highlights alongside the McLaren papaya …

The Arrow McLaren completed its reveal of liveries for its NTT IndyCar Series entries with today’s look at the 2024 No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Pato O’Ward. This year’s incarnation features more prominent black highlights alongside the McLaren papaya orange.

Today’s reveal follows those for Alexander Rossi’s No. 7 and the No. 6 of David Malukas earlier in the week.

 

McLaren reveals livery for Malukas No. 6 entry

After yesterday’s reveal of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series livery for Alexander Rossi’s No. 7, the Arrow McLaren team today pulled off the covers of the 2024 papaya and blue No. 6 Chevrolet to be driven by the team’s newly signed David Malukas. The new …

After yesterday’s reveal of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series livery for Alexander Rossi’s No. 7, the Arrow McLaren team today pulled off the covers of the 2024 papaya and blue No. 6 Chevrolet to be driven by the team’s newly signed David Malukas. The new look for the third member of the Arrow McLaren trio — the No. 7 of Pato O’Ward — will be revealed on Thursday.

 

Team forming around Larson’s Indy 500 effort

Kyle Larson’s Indianapolis 500 debut is continuing to take shape with Arrow McLaren. The 2021 NASCAR Cup champion completed his latest test run with the Chevy-powered team on Monday at Phoenix International Raceway where the No. 17 McLaren-Hendrick …

Kyle Larson’s Indianapolis 500 debut is continuing to take shape with Arrow McLaren.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup champion completed his latest test run with the Chevy-powered team on Monday at Phoenix International Raceway where the No. 17 McLaren-Hendrick entry was in action and turned 172 laps in the process on the 1.0-mile oval.

“It was great to be able to test again,” Larson said after having his outing at PIR moved up by one day due to oncoming weather. “Kinda like The Clash this past weekend for NASCAR, I was not expecting to race then and I wasn’t expecting when I woke up yesterday that I was going to be running an Indy car, so I had to get my mind right to prepare myself for that. But overall, I was pleased to get to test in great conditions with weather yesterday.”

Unlike his rookie test at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Larson got a feel for the Dallara-Chevy on the shorter PIR oval without an excessive amount of downforce piled onto the car where he caught at least one slide.

“Yesterday was probably more uncomfortable just because it’s a smaller track and things are happening quicker and you’re having to lift off the throttle a little bit,” he said. “At Indy, once we got through the different stages, we’re wide open pretty easy. So yesterday was fun to have to work on the timing of the corner and work through some balance things.

“The balance was definitely not perfect, which was good to feel. It was good to run through some things, get to some pit stop stuff. And yeah, I got loose at one point and almost spun out so that was good to feel the limit there at slower speeds.”

Arrow McLaren has also solidified more of the team that will oversee Larson’s No. 17 Chevy during his quest to win the ‘Hendrick 1100’ double with the May 26 Indy 500 and the 600-mile NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway later that day.

A key appointment has been finalized in the hiring of IndyCar race engineering veteran Mike Pawlowski who will begin working with Larson at his next test and remain in the role through the race. With engineering stints at teams racing from A.J. Foyt Racing to Andretti Global to Players Forsythe Racing, Pawlowski brings exceptional experience to the McLaren-Hendrick effort.

Another significant assignment on Larson’s timing stand is Hendrick’s Brian Campe, who will make his return to IndyCar as the ‘car communicator’ with the No. 17 entry and speak with the 31-year-old Californian throughout the event as the main voice in Larson’s ear from pit lane.

In Campe, Larson has a fellow NASCAR specialist who transitioned to IndyCar from stock car racing and went back after capturing two of the sport’s biggest crowns. From his time with Team Penske, Campe won the 2015 Indy 500 with Juan Montoya and steered Josef Newgarden to his first IndyCar championship in 2017 before returning to NASCAR, which fits nicely with Larson’s goal of heading back to NASCAR with IndyCar’s greatest spoils in hand.

“I didn’t know his path to where he’s at right now until we went to Indy last year during the month of May just to hang out for one day,” he said. “I knew that he won the Indy 500 and then when we walked in there, all these race fans and mechanics were coming up to him and I was like, ‘Man this guy’s like a celebrity around here,’ and so that that was really eye opening to me and from then, I really just asked him some questions on the flight home of like, ‘I didn’t know this about you,’ and then he went through his career path and I thought it was very unique.

“Before I knew all this, I was like, ‘Man this Brian Campe guy, I can tell he’s super smart,’ just throughout our competition meetings and stuff like that so once we got to Indy, it all made sense. You want all the best people in your corner and he’s definitely a really smart guy.”

Arrow McLaren and Juncos Hollinger form alliance

An overabundance of sponsorship agreements on Arrow McLaren’s side will benefit Juncos Hollinger Racing as the two NTT IndyCar Series teams have concluded a deal that will see Arrow McLaren’s colors and sponsors carried on at least one of JHR’s …

An overabundance of sponsorship agreements on Arrow McLaren’s side will benefit Juncos Hollinger Racing as the two NTT IndyCar Series teams have concluded a deal that will see Arrow McLaren’s colors and sponsors carried on at least one of JHR’s Chevy-powered entries.

No significant specifics were provided for the unified entry, but the announcement did state that “the alliance may evolve over time, beginning with a commercial and strategic focus, working together to grow their respective propositions,” and “the teams … will also consider this alliance as a talent development opportunity, with the potential for engineers, mechanics and drivers to build their experience.”

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JHR expanded to two cars in 2023 with the incumbent Callum Ilott joined by rookie Agustin Canapino. Canapino placed second in IndyCar’s Rookie of the Year contest while finishing an impressive 21st in the Drivers’ championship as he learned each track and oval racing for the first time, and Ilott led the emerging team with a pair of fifth-place results on the way to finishing 16th in the standings, nestled between Graham Rahal and fellow IndyCar sophomore David Malukas, who was recently signed by Arrow McLaren.

As JHR founder Ricardo Juncos told RACER in a recent interview, Ilott is under contract through 2024; Canapino’s return is not guaranteed as funding for the Argentinian to continue is not yet in place. A driver change in one of the two entries fielded by the Indiana-based team is also possible.

RACER understands the forging of the relationship started from conversations held between McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and JHR co-owner Brad Hollinger.

“We believe our alliance will enable us to accelerate our progress while also benefiting McLaren with commercial and talent development opportunities,” Hollinger said.

Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward, who told RACER last week that a technical alliance will not be included in the first season of the deal, echoed Hollinger’s comments.

“We’re continually working to strengthen all areas of our team,” he said. “And a strategic alliance with Juncos Hollinger Racing helps both of us in leveraging our commercial and marketing power and the McLaren Racing brand in a new way.”

Arrow McLaren narrowing IndyCar alliance options

Arrow McLaren is getting closer to making a decision on where and how the three-car NTT IndyCar Series outfit will form strategic alliances in the paddock. Fellow Chevy-powered team Juncos Hollinger Racing is known to be a strong candidate to dress …

Arrow McLaren is getting closer to making a decision on where and how the three-car NTT IndyCar Series outfit will form strategic alliances in the paddock.

Fellow Chevy-powered team Juncos Hollinger Racing is known to be a strong candidate to dress one of its cars in papaya orange, but Arrow McLaren racing director Gavin Ward says there’s more than one team on their radar.

“We’re talking to a number of parties about strategic alliances,” Ward told RACER. “We’re pretty close to having something finalized that we will be in a position to announce in the coming weeks. But it’s not just one option on the table, and there are some options that might not even be mutually exclusive. We’re looking at a number of ways that we can make ourselves a better race team and really, that’s what we’re trying to do by building ourselves into the strongest IndyCar operation we can be.”

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Ward provided deeper insights into what a strategic alliance could represent for Arrow McLaren.

“We’re looking at some options that could be commercial, could be talent, whether it’s crews or drivers, trying to develop a pipeline,” he said. “Those are the kinds of strategic alliances we’re looking at.”

The potential to develop a technical alliance is also among the range of options for Arrow McLaren, but not for next season.

“We’re not ruling out technical partnerships of that ilk that seem to be out there right now like between Andretti [and Meyer Shank Racing] and Penske [and A.J. Foyt Racing] kind of relationships for the future, but we are really ruling that out for ’24,” Ward said.

“We’ve got enough to do on our own just to consolidate with the growth we’ve had in the team, and I don’t want to distract ourselves from just nailing it for next year as best we can. It’s flattering to have teams reach out and want technical support. It shows faith in what we’re doing and where we’re going.”

Rosenqvist capitalizing on ‘freeing feeling’ with his future secured

Felix Rosenqvist believes the sense of freedom that came with having his IndyCar future sorted ahead of this weekend’s season-finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca helped to put him in the position to fight for pole for Sunday’s race. The Swede …

Felix Rosenqvist believes the sense of freedom that came with having his IndyCar future sorted ahead of this weekend’s season-finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca helped to put him in the position to fight for pole for Sunday’s race.

The Swede edged out Scott McLaughlin to claim pole for what will be his final race with Arrow McLaren. Questions around his next steps were answered earlier this week when it was announced that he will move to Meyer Shank Racing next year, and Rosenqvist said that the finalizing that deal felt liberating.

“Like most of us, we don’t like to admit that we’re struggling or being under pressure,” he said. “Obviously I’ve been in the situation for quite a long time where I don’t really know what my future’s going to hold. I always kind of played it off like, ‘It’s fine, I got it under control.’

“I think a couple months ago, I started having some bad results. We had a lot of DNFs and stuff. Kind of things out of my control. You get to a point where you have to settle something for next year. It’s obviously stressful. I think that actually got to me a bit.

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“Having [now] signed a multi-year contract, I couldn’t really believe how free I would feel after that, so… It’s kind of a good reminder for the future [that] when you feel stressed out, you have to take care of those things first, make sure you’re nice and relaxed at the track.”

Rosenqvist said he is keenly aware of the significance of signing off on his tenure with Arrow McLaren with a pole position.

“In a way, it’s ironic,” he said. “It’s just kind of proving the pace we have, that we keep having. Things haven’t been straightforward. We haven’t been good enough this year. I made a lot of mistakes. The team made a lot of mistakes. We had some unfortunate things happening.

“The number one thing you want to keep showing as a driver is your pace. Obviously, Portland [ED: where he finished second] was a very good weekend for us. To kick off this weekend like this is just perfect.

“As I say, it’s the last weekend with the team, so a bit emotional obviously. I love all these guys and girls in Arrow McLaren. It’s definitely a perfect way to end things.”