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Debriefing Arrow McLAREN’s 2023 Season

“We’re going to come back next year even stronger and race hard for wins”

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The Grand Prix of Monterey marked the end of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, which concluded Arrow McLaren’s first with three full-time entries. We ultimately fell short of our goal of winning a championship, but the team showed that it could compete at the top in any given race.

Arrow McLaren finished the 17-race season with 10 podium finishes, including seven from Pato O’Ward, which was the second-most in the series. Pato finished fourth in the championship with 484 points, his third top-four finish in four seasons. Alexander Rossi completed his first season in the papaya with a podium, 11 top-10 finishes and a ninth-place finish in the championship, while Felix Rosenqvist captured a pair of poles and podiums for a 12th-place finish.

“I think we learned a lot this year,” Alexander said. “There were a lot of positive things to draw from. I feel like we improved tremendously throughout the year and have a lot to learn from when we see all these tracks again for the second time together next year. We’ll focus on the positives, try to improve on the negatives and go into the off-season with optimism.”

Felix’s qualifying efforts this season provided some of the most memorable moments for Arrow McLaren. His pole at Laguna Seca was a fitting farewell to his No. 6 Chevrolet team in his last race with us.

The 31-year-old Swedish racer’s front-row start at the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 exhilarated the crowd at the IMS. His Indy 500 livery, honoring Alain Prost’s 1984 Monaco Grand Prix victory, was part of the team’s historic Triple Crown celebration, which made the Arrow McLaren cars stars of the month of May with our tribute liveries across all four entries.

The Indy 500 also marked the final race in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Tony Kanaan, who raced for Arrow McLaren and has since joined the team in a leadership role.

While the win was elusive this year, Arrow McLaren found themselves on the podium quite frequently. At the GMR Grand Prix in May, Pato and Alexander finished P2 and P3, respectively, for a double podium. Pato had four second-place finishes in 2023, including at Texas, where he blew away the field for a large portion of the race yet fell short of victory after multiple untimely yellow flags in the late stages of the race.

“It was a strong season for us, and our performance was consistent,” Pato said. “We didn’t get the win we were looking for, and we need to clean some things up, but I’m proud of the job the team and I have done. We’re going to come back next year even stronger and race hard for wins.

As we look forward to next year, Arrow McLaren is excited to welcome David Malukas to complete its 2024 driver lineup. David comes from Dale Coyne Racing where he compiled two podium finishes in two seasons after setting an INDY NXT record in 2021 with 16-podium finishes. He’s shown potential in his first two seasons in the series, and his personality, work ethic and enthusiasm will make him a great fit for our team and partners.

Next year will also feature Kyle Larson’s attempt at The Double, where he’ll race in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Kyle will run at the IMS for the first time in October for his Rookie Orientation Program, and we’re looking forward to getting one of the most versatile racers in the world on track for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

This offseason will be an important one for Arrow McLaren as we continue to gel and build our processes the right way. We’re excited to get back to work and confident that we’ll continue to fight for the championship in 2024.

“We had some highs and lows in our first season with a three-car lineup, but I think we saw the team gel together well as we moved deeper into the year,” Gavin Ward, Arrow McLaren Racing Director, said. “While the results weren’t always there, we’ve done a good job of establishing the processes we’re looking for. We’re already putting in a lot of hard work for next year, and I’m excited for our off-season and for 2024, when I expect we’ll once again be routinely fighting for poles, podiums and wins.”

Arrow McLAREN IndyCar Team 2023 Season in Review