Arrow McLaren to run three cars and two drivers at the Sebring test

Arrow McLaren to run three cars and two drivers at the Sebring test


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

Given the injury and the exclusion of David Malukas from the No. 6 Chevy through at least the opening race of the season, Arrow McLaren will head into the Monday-Tuesday test with three cars and two drivers.

Although the team bought free agent Callum Ilott to handle hybrid testing duties on Wednesday to fill the slot 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 Championship duties. and Hertz. Jota team in Qatar.

Therefore, the team has opted to send the No. 5, 6, and 7 Chevys to Sebring and task Pato O’Ward with dropping his No. 5 car and then switching to the No. 6 which will be contested by whoever Arrow McLaren appoints for the March 8-10 event there. St.

The full-field test is important for all 10 IndyCar teams for the season as it will represent the first outing for many drivers in cars that have all the features specified for 2024, which include a number of lightweights. train things, but not the energy recovery system itself.

Remove the ERS package—the engine-generator unit and high-capacitor energy storage system—the early-season chassis setup weighs about 30 pounds less than the cars that competed in the final 2023 race. Although 10 teams were allowed to run one in 2024 tests at the Homestead-Miami test in January, and many teams ran their drivers through the same cars during the three-day test, the Sebring test will give many drivers the first opportunity to drive their own cars and their crews of the season whole in car payments.

“I’m looking forward to the start of the season, and this is the last chance we can get back to the track – the drivers, the engineers, the mechanics,” O’Ward said. “Getting the team back together is the most important thing. We get to test a few more parts and pieces that we’ve developed in the off-season to see what works and what doesn’t. Then we’ll try to get to St. Pete with the best package and we’ll shut it down. I haven’t been to Sebring a little bit, but I’m happy to be back.”

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