Official: McLaren in IndyCar in 2020!

Even though in 2017 and 2019 McLaren decided to participate in the legendary Indianapolis 500-mile race, this is the first time since 1979 that the British team will compete in the entire American championship.

A return that is made possible thanks to the alliance with Arrow Schmidt Peterson and Chevrolet, which will provide the Woking team with all the weapons it needs to fight. The name of this new entity is therefore Arrow McLaren Racing SP. Gil de Ferran is the new head of the McLaren IndyCar group, which will be completely separate from Formula 1.

Two cars will be lined up, but it is still unknown which drivers will be part of the line-up. Nicholas Latifi could be a potential candidate since his father is a 30% shareholder in McLaren. However, Fernando Alonso is not expected to be part of the adventure as relations have become strained between the two parties following the Indianapolis disaster (McLaren didn’t even manage to qualify its driver).

Zak Brawn, the CEO of McLaren, is thrilled to embark on the conquest of America: « IndyCar has been part of McLaren since our early days in racing. This championship now offers not only a commercial platform to continue to develop our brand in North America but also competition with some of the best teams in international motorsport. »

McLaren had already participated in IndyCar about forty years ago. During the 70s, it had accumulated 28 victories and was at the time one of the biggest teams. Glory was brought by drivers like Mark Donohue, who was even the first to win in 1972 at the Indianapolis 500 with the British team, which also won the biggest race of the year twice.